By Caitlin Fono, Research Analyst, Cotality (Formerly CoreLogic) 

There are currently 3,245 homes scheduled to go under the hammer across the combined capitals – the busiest auction week since the lead up to Easter last year (3,519).

This week's numbers are up 5.8% on last week (3,068) and 12.0% higher than this time last year (2,898). If all these auctions proceed, it will be the busiest auction week of the year for Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra.

Sydney is on track for its busiest auction week of the year, with 1,332 homes currently scheduled to go under the hammer this week, up from 1,186 last week and 1,098 this time last year.

Melbourne is set to host 1,381 auctions this week, compared to 1,388 last week and 1,340 this time last year. This will likely be the seventh time so far this year where Melbourne's weekly auction activity has risen above 1,300.

Across the smaller capitals, Brisbane is set to be the busiest market this week, with 220 homes scheduled to go under the hammer, compared to 209 last week. There are 159 auctions scheduled in Adelaide this week, up from 130 last week, while 144 auctions are set to go under the hammer in Canberra, up from 136 last week.

In Perth, nine auctions are scheduled this week, down from 16 last week, while there are no auctions scheduled in Tasmania this week, after three homes were taken under the hammer last week.

Next week we are expecting to see around 2,980 homes taken to auction across the combined capitals.

Summary of last week's results

There were 3,068 homes taken to auction across the combined capitals last week, making it the second-busiest auction week of the year so far. The previous week saw 2,109 homes taken under the hammer, while one year ago, 2,848 capital city auctions were held.

The final clearance rate came in at 65.9% last week, just 10 basis points higher than the previous week (65.8%) when the lowest clearance rate since June was recorded. Over the same week last year, a clearance rate of 58.4% was recorded across the combined capitals.

There were 1,388 auctions held in Melbourne last week, the fourth-busiest week of the year. The previous week saw just 502 homes taken to auction (due to the Melbourne Cup Carnival), while this time last year, 1,330 homes went under the hammer across the city. Melbourne's clearance rate came in at 65.9% last week, after dropping to 61.2% the week prior, which was the lowest clearance rate in 27 weeks. Over the same week last year, 59.0% of reported auctions were successful.

In Sydney, 1,186 homes were taken to auction last week, the second-busiest auction week of the year so far. The previous week saw 1,094 homes taken to auction, while this time last year, 1,062 auctions were held across the city. Sydney's final clearance rate dropped to its lowest level in 22 weeks last week, coming in at 64.5%, down from 66.3% the week prior.  Over the same week last year, a clearance rate of 59.8% was recorded.

Across the smaller auction markets, Adelaide recorded the highest clearance rate, coming in at 75.4%, down from 77.1% the week prior. Perth's clearance rate came in at 75.0%, up from 66.7% over the previous week, while Brisbane's clearance rate came in at 69.9%, up from 68.8% the week prior. In Canberra, 61.8% of auctions were successful, down from 62.1% the previous week.

There were just three auctions in Tasmania last week, one of which was successful. Brisbane (209) was the busiest auction market across the smaller capitals last week, followed by Canberra (136), Adelaide (130) and Perth (16).