The number of Australian capital city homes that went to auction in the week ending May 17 dropped around 11% from the previous week to 1,939 homes, but remained higher than the 1,784 homes a year earlier, Cotality said in a Monday report.
The week's preliminary clearance rate rose just over a percentage point to nearly 58%, which was "still a soft result" and the third lowest rate for the year-to-date, according to the report.
The preliminary clearance rate in Sydney fell 6 percentage points to more than 49% in the May 17 week, cooling to pandemic-era lows, as auction volumes declined nearly 15% from a week earlier to 616 homes.
Melbourne also posted a fall in auctions to 906 homes, down about 15% on the week prior, with the preliminary clearance rate rising 3.7 percentage points to over 61%, Cotality said.
Elsewhere, Brisbane recorded a 7.3% weekly increase to 177 auctions hosted, with just over half of them successful, while the volume of homes going to market in Adelaide jumped 41% on the previous week. Tasmania held no auctions.
Cotality estimates 2,650 auctions scheduled for this week and expects activity to rise above 3,000 next week.