Clearance rates slide after the fourth hike of 2026
Australia's auction market has weakened sharply after the Reserve Bank raised the official cash rate to 4.6% last week, the highest level in 15 years. Cotality reported a preliminary national auction clearance rate of only 48.2% this weekend, the lowest reading since the week ending June 21st, when it stood at 47.4%, and the second-lowest preliminary figure so far this year. The result extends a pattern in which clearance rates have tracked well below the levels recorded in 2025 and 2024, a decline that has accompanied falling dwelling values across the country.[S1][S2]
Tim Lawless, research director at Cotality, attributed the softer result in part to the rate rise, citing smaller borrowing capacity and lingering confidence issues among would-be buyers. He added that weak clearance rates outside Sydney and Melbourne dragged down the national figure. So far, 25.6% of Brisbane auctions reported a successful result, compared with 41.5% in Adelaide and 41.7% in Canberra, while Sydney and Melbourne stayed above 50%, at 55.7% and 50.6%.[S1]
Price correction spreads beyond the largest capitals
Since peaking in early April, dwelling values in the five major capitals have dropped 6.6%, putting them just 2 percentage points short of the steepest price correction seen in over four decades. The downturn has moved past Sydney and Melbourne into the mid-sized capitals of Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. Markets are betting on at least one further hike, possibly a second next year, which would push variable mortgage rates close to 7%.[S1]
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This was the Reserve Bank's fourth rate increase of 2026, and it should keep the price correction running into 2027, with records likely to fall before Christmas. Auction clearance rates have long served as a reliable early signal of dwelling value growth, particularly across the major capital city markets, which is why the current stretch of soft readings matters so much for the housing outlook.[S1]
