Australia’s housing market has entered the second half of the year with auction clearance rates slipping to their weakest levels since late 2022, as softer buyer demand and fewer homes going under the hammer continued to weigh on the market.
New figures from property analytics firm Cotality show the weighted average final auction clearance rate across the combined capital cities edged up to 45.0 per cent in the week ending 28 June, from 42.3 per cent the previous week. Despite the weekly improvement, it marked the fifth consecutive week that the combined clearance rate remained below 50 per cent, continuing a downward trend that has developed over the past two months.
A total of 1,748 auctions were held across the capital cities during the week, down 7.0 per cent from the previous week and 14.5 per cent lower than the same period last year. Cotality economist Annabelle Mezieres said June closed with the weakest auction conditions seen during the current reporting period.
“The consistent downward trend in the weighted average clearance rates across an eight-week period, from 52.4% to 45%, highlights a genuine trend rather than short term fluctuations.”
She said the auction results aligned with Cotality’s June Home Value Index, which reported the largest monthly fall in dwelling values since December 2022.
“The weekly results are consistent with the June Home Value Index (HVI) release, which reported the largest monthly drop since December 2022. Sydney and Melbourne, with the weakest clearance rates and largest annual declines in volume, also led value decreases at 1.2% and 1.0% for the month.”
Melbourne remained Australia’s busiest auction market, accounting for almost half of all auctions held during the week. There were 807 auctions across the Victorian capital, down from 923 the previous week and well below the 962 recorded a year earlier. Melbourne’s clearance rate improved to 46.6 per cent from 43.6 per cent, although it remained well below the 68.2 per cent recorded a year ago.
Sydney recorded 631 auctions, little changed from the previous week but down 18.2 per cent on the same week last year. Its clearance rate lifted slightly to 43.1 per cent from 41.7 per cent, compared with 67.2 per cent a year earlier.
Among the smaller capitals, Adelaide was the only city to record increases in auction volumes compared with both the previous week and the same time last year. It hosted 116 auctions, with the clearance rate rising to 53.4 per cent.
Brisbane continued to record the weakest clearance rate of any capital city at 36.8 per cent despite a modest improvement from the previous week. Canberra’s clearance rate held steady at 41.3 per cent, while Perth recorded only 12 auctions. Tasmania did not record any auctions for the second consecutive week.
The figures also point to mounting challenges for sellers. Of the 1,748 auctions held nationally, 662 properties were passed in and a further 299 were withdrawn before sale. That meant about 55 per cent of vendors finished the week without securing a sale. Sydney recorded the highest number of withdrawn properties, while Melbourne accounted for the largest number of passed-in homes.
Looking ahead, auction activity is expected to slow further as winter progresses.
Around 1,490 homes are scheduled to go under the hammer in the week ending 5 July, representing a further 14.6 per cent fall from the previous week’s volumes and almost 17 per cent fewer than the same week in 2025. Melbourne is expected to see the sharpest weekly decline, with approximately 570 auctions scheduled compared with 807 the previous week. Sydney’s auction numbers are forecast to remain relatively steady at around 630.
Adelaide is again expected to be the only capital city with auction volumes above year-earlier levels, while Brisbane, Canberra and Perth are all forecast to remain below last year’s activity.
Cotality expects auction volumes to continue easing through July, projecting around 1,300 homes will be auctioned in the following week as seasonal winter conditions reduce market activity.
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