The selling season is demonstrably heating up across the combined capitals, as evidenced by rising auction volumes and preliminary clearance rates in the latest data. The combined capital cities preliminary auction clearance rate reached 73.8% last week, marking a four-week high. This result is an increase from the 73.0% preliminary rate recorded the previous week, a rate which was subsequently revised down to 68.2% on final numbers. This latest figure is significantly above the recent low of 71.4% recorded during the last week of September.

From a volume perspective, the selling season’s acceleration is clear. A total of 2,662 homes were taken to auction across the combined capital cities last week. This volume represents the highest weekly number of auctions observed since the week ending June 1st, 2025, when 2,918 homes went under the hammer. Looking ahead, auction activity is set to increase further, with more than 3,200 homes scheduled to go under the hammer this week. However, this elevated activity is expected to drop back to around 2,180 homes next week, primarily due to Melbourne pausing auction activity for the Spring Racing Carnival. Overall, the 2,662 auctions held last week resulted in 1,377 cleared auctions and 488 uncleared auctions from the 1,865 collected results.

Activity was intense across the two largest capital cities, Melbourne and Sydney, which accounted for the vast majority of the national volume. Melbourne hosted the most auctions, with 1,168 homes taken to market. This volume was a 6.5% decrease from the previous week, which saw 1,249 homes auctioned. Despite the slight dip in volume, Melbourne’s preliminary clearance rate was 74.4%, reaching its highest point in four weeks, although it remained below the spring high of 78.6% recorded during the week ending September 21st.

Sydney saw a significant surge in volume, hosting 1,082 auctions last week. This marks a 9.5% rise from the 988 auctions held the week prior. The 1,082 volume is notable for two reasons: it is the second-highest volume recorded through the spring season so far, and it is only the fourth time this year that Sydney has hosted more than 1,000 auctions. Despite this higher volume, the preliminary clearance rate in Sydney held up well, achieving a four-week high of 74.5%.

Among the smaller capitals, Brisbane led the auction count, with 198 homes going under the hammer. This represents the third-highest volume of auctions held in Brisbane so far this year, resulting in a preliminary clearance rate of 70.7%, which was its highest result in five weeks. Adelaide’s market was stable in volume, with 96 homes auctioned last week, level with the previous week, and reporting a strong preliminary clearance rate of 77.4%. The ACT saw 104 homes auctioned, yielding a 66.2% preliminary clearance rated, an improvement from the prior week’s 61.5% but substantially lower than the spring high of 81.3% from September 21st. Minimal auction activity was recorded elsewhere, with only 14 auctions held across Perth and no auctions recorded in Tasmania last week.