More 2017 property auctions than in the past two years

There were more homes for auction in Melbourne and Sydney in the past six months than at any time over the past two years.

Over the first six months of the year, Sydney had 16,370 auction listings, a 29 percent increase on the 12,708 over the same period last year.

It was also a 5.7 percent gain on the 15,486 of the first six months of 2015, Domain Group figures show.

Melbourne showed a similar pattern, with 18,175 auction listings in the first half, a 13 percent gain on last year's 16,083 and 10.2 percent higher than the 16,486 in the first half of 2015.

The increase in auction listings from last year is partly due to the quiet start of 2016, when owners delayed putting their homes on the market after a surprisingly quiet final quarter of 2015, when prices fell fell in the two largest cities and the average auction clearance rate fell from 73.4 percent in the September quarter to 62.1 percent.

There was also a Federal election that interrupted the 2016 market.

"There's been a real rush into the marketplace this year for both Melbourne and Sydney," Domain chief economist Andrew Wilson told Domain.

"The market did rebound with lower interest rates last year and the end of last year was quite strong for markets.

"Perhaps there's also a sense of the market peaking."