The week ahead of the Easter long weekend is always an active one for auction markets, and this year was no exception. 3,146 homes were taken to auction across the combined capitals last week, the highest count since the week prior to Easter last year (3,519).
The high volume of auctions collided with a drop in confidence amid the tariff related ructions and share market volatility, sending the preliminary clearance rate to its lowest level so far this year (excluding January results which tend to be volatile due to low volume). At 64.8%, last week’s preliminary clearance rate was 5.9 percentage points lower than the previous week (70.7%, revising down to 61.8% on final numbers).
Melbourne hosted the most auctions, with 1,424 homes going under the hammer, which was well down on 2024’s pre-Easter volume (1,760). In fact, we saw a higher volume of Melbourne auctions in the last week of February 2025 (1,437) and the last week of October 2024 (1,675). The preliminary clearance rate came in at 67.0%, a sharp drop from the 72.9% result recorded a week earlier (revised down to 64.1% on final numbers).
With 1,307 auctions held, this was Sydney’s biggest week of auctions since the week prior to Easter 2022 (1,490). Demand from purchasers didn’t keep pace, with 65.5% of auctions recording a successful result so far, down from 69.1% the previous week (revised down to 59.9% on final numbers).
Historical clearance rates utilise the final auction clearance rate, while the current week is based on the preliminary clearance rate.
Adelaide hosted the most auctions across the smaller capitals, with 157 homes going under the hammer last week (highest so far this year). The preliminary clearance rate fell to 62.1%, a sharp drop from the 87.8% early clearance rate the previous week (70.1% once finalised).
The above results are preliminary, with ‘final’ auction clearance rates published each Thursday. CoreLogic, on average, collects 99% of auction results each week. Clearance rates are calculated across properties that have been taken to auction over the past week.
Brisbane saw a muted pre-Easter auction market, with ‘only’ 135 auctions held across Brisbane last week (the second lowest volume of auctions since the start of February). The lower volume wasn’t enough to stave off a drop in the preliminary clearance rate, with 56.7% of auctions reporting a successful result so far, down from 58.3% the week prior (revising to 55.4% on final numbers).
110 auctions were held in the ACT, the second highest volume so far this year. Only 41.0% of auctions reported so far have recorded a successful result – the lowest preliminary result since June 2019.
In Perth, six of the 11 auctions have been reported so far, four of which were successful, while one of the two auctions held in Tasmania last week was sold.
CoreLogic, on average, collects 99% of auction results each week. Clearance rates are calculated across properties that have been taken to auction over the past week.
The volume of auctions is set to fall sharply this week amid the Easter long weekend, with approximately 635 homes scheduled to go under the hammer, rising to around 1,050 next week.
Download Property Market Indicator Summary
Meet Caitlin Fono
Sr Associate, Research Support
Caitlin has spent more than a decade working with property data and analytics in various roles, earning a position on the CoreLogic research team in 2013. As a respected and highly experienced research analyst, Caitlin works with high frequency data sets, regularly updating our widely read auction reporting, weekly activity updates and customised data briefs.
Full profile