Strong Start to Auctions
The 2026 auction season has started strongly with a strong national clearance rate above 70%.
Cotality data shows the national clearance rate of 73.7% last week was the strongest result since mid-October last year.
Auction markets are generally fairly quiet at the start of the year but pick up pace from Australia Day onwards.
More than 1590 homes were put under the hammer last week.
Adelaide continues to show that, despite fairly low auction numbers (117), it consistently achieves strong results. Its clearance rate of 83.6% was the highest in Australia last week.
Sydney was next with a clearance rate of 79.6%, followed by Melbourne, 67.9% and Brisbane, 69%.
Cotality figures show about 2,050 auctions will be held across the combined capitals this week, and 2,800 the following week.
Cotality analyst Caitlin Fono says the start of the 2026 auction season has been surprisingly strong, with the preliminary clearance rate rebounding from the low 60% range in mid-December.
