The week ending October 26, 2025, marked a significant milestone for the Australian property market, being characterized as the “Busiest auction week since March last year”. The combined capital cities collectively brought 3,253 properties to auction, representing the highest volume recorded since the week ending March 24th, 2024. This surge in activity offered key insights into current market dynamics, particularly how high volumes interact with clearance rates.
The Dynamics of High Volume and Clearance Rates
The substantial influx of listings, which drove the combined capitals to their highest volume in many months, coincided with a noticeable easing in buyer demand, at least when measured by preliminary clearance rates. The preliminary auction clearance rate for the combined capitals slumped to 70.5%. This was the lowest preliminary clearance rate recorded since mid-June.
This easing trend had been evident since late September, following a cyclical high of 77.9% recorded over the week ending September 21st. Crucially, however, the 70.5% clearance rate, despite being a slump, continued to hold above the decade average of 68.5% and has remained consistently above the 70% mark since mid-June. The lower clearance rate therefore occurred against the rising volumes, suggesting the market successfully absorbed a higher quantity of listings, albeit with a slight dip in the rate of successful sales.
Metropolitan Contributions to the Peak
The record volume was largely driven by a huge surge in listings across Melbourne, complemented by activity in Sydney and other capitals.
Melbourne experienced a “huge week of auctions”, taking 1,835 homes under the hammer. This individual city volume was remarkably high, marking Melbourne’s highest weekly volume of auctions since December 2021—a period corresponding to the height of the pandemic housing boom. Melbourne’s preliminary clearance rate eased back slightly to 71.8% (its lowest in three weeks) but remained well above its decade average of 68.7%.
Sydney contributed 959 homes to the combined capital volume. Unlike Melbourne, Sydney’s volume was actually down from the 1,079 auctions held the previous week. Sydney’s clearance rate saw a more dramatic softening, dropping to 68.2%. This marked the city’s lowest clearance rate since the week ending June 8th earlier in the year, and was the first time the preliminary clearance rate dropped below the 70% mark in 21 weeks.
Other capital cities also contributed to the volume: Brisbane hosted 190 auctions (with a clearance rate of 73.5%), Adelaide hosted 159 auctions (with a clearance rate of 70.8%), and the ACT hosted 88 auctions (with a clearance rate of 59.4%).
Immediate Outlook and Rebound
Following this high volume week, auction activity for the combined capitals is set to drop sharply this week to around 2,200 homes. This temporary reduction is primarily due to Melbourne pausing its auction schedule for the Spring Racing Carnival, resulting in fewer than 500 homes scheduled there.
However, the high volume trend is expected to resume quickly. Auction volumes are forecasted to bounce back next week, with approximately 3,200 homes currently scheduled for auction over the week ending November 9. Notably, Sydney is set to immediately bounce higher this current week, with around 1,200 homes scheduled to go under the hammer.