Melbourne’s auction volumes show a temporary fall: CoreLogic RP Data's Shana Miller

The final auction clearance rate last week fell to 64.9%, down from 67.4% the previous week and similarly, lower than one year ago (68.1%).

The fall in capital city clearance rate can be largely attributed to a weaker result across Sydney last week, the second largest capital city auction market.

Last week was Melbourne’s busiest for the year, with 1,690 auctions held, however given the Melbourne cup next Tuesday, auction activity across the city this weekend is set to be somewhat quieter, with just 621 scheduled for the week. Melbourne was the strongest performing capital city market last week, with 69.7% of reported auctions successful and CoreLogic RP Data estimates over 1,150 transactions took place as a result of the cities auction activity.

In Sydney, last week there were 1,024 auctions with a clearance rate of just 61.3%, far from the strength seen earlier this year, when for 22 consecutive weeks the city recorded a clearance rate of 80% or above. Despite the weaker result last week, there are 1,450 Sydney homes scheduled for auction this week, more than at the same time last year (1,259) and the highest number of weekly auctions seen since the final week of March this year.

Although auction activity is set to slow down temporarily this week in Melbourne, the same cannot be said for Adelaide, where there will be 155 auctions this week, compared to 103 last week, Canberra, with 131 scheduled compared to 58 last week and Perth, up from 33 last week to 49 this week.

Brisbane is the only other capital city where auction volumes will be lower this week, down to 197 from 223 last week, which was the busiest week for auctions across the city so far this year. Despite the increased activity, Brisbane’s final auction clearance rate last week showed that less than half (48.8%) of the auctions resulted in a transaction.

The lower volumes across Melbourne this week have added some more variety into the list of the busiest individual suburbs for auctions, as opposed to last week when each of the suburbs were located in Melbourne.

• -  20 auctions in Reservoir (Vic) 
• -  18 auctions in Bellevue Hill (NSW) 
• -  16 auctions in Paddington (NSW) 
• -  15 auctions in Coogee (NSW), Killara (NSW) and St Ives (NSW)