Homes taken to auction across Australia’s capital cities surged to 3,384 last week, marking the biggest February auction week since CoreLogic records commenced in 2008. 

There was a 74.3% preliminary clearance rate taken from the 2,755 results collected to date, down slightly from the previous week’s preliminary clearance rate of 74.6%, according to CoreLogic.  

For the same time last year, 79.3% of reported auctions were successful.  

Source: CoreLogic

The flurry of auction activity comes as homeowners look to sell before house prices start to fall from later this year, as forecasted by Westpac and other institutions.  

According to Westpac, Australian home prices are forecast to decline 14% from late 2022 through to the end of 2024 as a result of looming interest rate hikes.  

In Melbourne, there were 1,561 auctions last week, up from 1,323 over the week prior and 1,299 during the time last year.  

Melbourne recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 71% out of 1,291 results, down from the previous week’s preliminary clearance rate of 74.2%. 

Source: CoreLogic

For Sydney, there were 1,209 homes were taken to auction across the city, up from 1,021 over the week prior and 844 this time last year. 

The Sydney clearance rate rose week-on-week to 76.9% from the 1,016 results collected despite higher auction volumes. The preliminary clearance rate for the city was 75.6% the week prior.  

Across the smaller capitals, Adelaide recorded an 85.4% preliminary auction clearance rate, the highest rate for the week.  

Canberra had an early clearance rate of 75.7%; Brisbane recorded a 72.7% clearance rate; and six of the nine results collected so far in Perth were successful.  

The South Australian capital had 208 auctions last week, while Brisbane had 223 auctions and Canberra had 163.  

There were no auctions in Tasmania this week. 

Source: CoreLogic