The bottom has well and truly fallen out of Australia’s auction market, with Cotality’s final clearance rate for last weekend collapsing to only 43.6% nationally, the worst result since late June:
Source: Cotality
Auction volumes were also tracking 42% lower than the same weekend last year. Every capital that held auctions last week had a lower clearance rate than a year earlier.
The October average final clearance rate has plunged to only 45%, the lowest result since April 2020 during the height of the COVID lockdowns:
Sydney’s auction market has sickened, with its final clearance rate plunging to only 41.7% last week, the equal worst weekly result since mid-June.
Sydney’s October average clearance rate has fallen to 47%, the weakest result since June 2026 (45%).
Melbourne’s auction market has performed better, tracking just above 50% for four months. However, it has also weakened, falling to 51% in October from 54% in August and September.
Brisbane’s auction market is easily the weakest of the East Coast capitals. Brisbane’s final clearance rate has tracked below 40% since May and averaged only 25% in October, the softest result since April 2020.
This weekend, 1,793 homes are scheduled to go under the hammer across the combined capitals. Auction volumes are expected to be 4.2% lower than the 1,871 auctions held last week and 15.0% lower than the 2,109 held in the same week last year.
Given the widespread expectation that the Reserve Bank will hike interest rates again on Tuesday, I expect another soft result.
