There have been 116,684 capital city auctions held over the 2021 year to date, overtaking 2017 as the busiest auction year on record with 109,268 auctions.  

The new record comes after one of the busiest auction weeks in the country over the past week, which saw the preliminary combined clearance rate fall to 63.4%, according to Corelogic.  

Corelogic reported that 4,756 homes were taken to auction across the combined capital cities over the past week, the second busiest auction week since its records began in 2008.  

The previous week saw 4,981 homes go to auction. 

It was the fourth consecutive week where more than 4,000 capital city homes went to auction, something that has never been seen before.   

Clearance rates have trended lower in recent months due to the higher auction volumes.  

Last week’s preliminary clearance rate was 66.6% and was revised down to a final clearance rate of 64%.  

In Melbourne, there were 2,140 homes that were taken to auction, marking the second busiest auction week on record after the previous week of 2,318 auctions. 

The city’s preliminary clearance was 62.3% for the past week, down from the previous week’s preliminary clearance rate of 65.3%. 

Sydney also had a major auction week, with 1,631 homes going under the hammer over the past week and reporting a preliminary clearance rate of 60.8%.  

Corelogic said that it was more than likely that Sydney’s final clearance rate would fall below 60% for the first time this year when the remaining results are collected.   

Across the smaller auction markets, Brisbane (351), Adelaide (345) and Canberra (254) all overtook last week as their busiest auction week since records commenced.  

Canberra recorded the highest preliminary clearance rate at 73%, followed by Adelaide with 71.1% and Brisbane with 69.9%. 

Corelogic expects auction activity to slow sharply from next week, with only about 600 auctions scheduled across the capital cities. 

While the auction market doesn’t normally rebound until late January or early February, Corelogic said there could be an earlier start to the season if the December momentum carried through to 2022.