Clearance rates in Australia’s capital cities have fallen to a six-year low, with fewer than half of homes at auction finding buyers, said preliminary data provided by Cotality, a global property information, analytics, and business intelligence provider.
As per the data, 47.4% of homes that went to auction got sold in the week ending 21st June. While the mark, for the first time since April 2020, went below 50%, as per the Cotality, the figure could even be revised downwards as more numbers emerge in the coming days.
“In Sydney, the clearance rate was 47.4%, with 166 homes withdrawn from auction. In Melbourne, 50.6% of homes sold under the hammer. In Brisbane, just 33.3% of homes found buyers. Perth and Adelaide both saw auction rates of 40%, with Canberra at 47.1%. Clearance rates that low were last seen in April 2020, at the outset of the Covid pandemic,” Cotality stated further.
Annabelle Mezieres, an economist at Cotality, said the property company expects auction rates to ease even further in the future.
“Auction volumes look set to ease further over the coming weeks, partly a seasonal trend but also likely in response to weaker selling conditions,” she remarked, while noting nearly 24% of scheduled auctions were withdrawn and nearly half (48%) got sold before going under the hammer.
The worrying figures arrived less than a week after the Oceanian country’s Reserve Bank kept interest rates on hold at 4.35%, a decision that, despite being expected by a large section of economists and analysts, will still see many mortgage holders facing much higher repayments than earlier 2026. While the RBA had already agreed on three consecutive rate rises, the central bank’s governor, Michele Bullock, said another remains on the table, given the fact that prices are “still rising too quickly.”
Cotality’s initial data also comes just ahead of the parliamentary session that will see housing taking center stage as lawmakers move to debate the Anthony Albanese government’s overhaul of the capital gains tax discount and negative gearing, as proposed in May’s federal budget.
Jane Hume, the deputy Liberal leader, criticized the Albanese government’ plans to roll back negative gearing and limit the capital gains tax discount, calling them “entirely unfair.”
Tanya Plibersek, the Minister for Social Services, said the government doesn’t expect house prices to fall but to grow more slowly, stating that the changes proposed in the May budget were all about “aiding first home buyers.”