The lead up to Christmas has seen auction volumes take a tumble after five straight weeks of more than 3,000 being scheduled.

Figures from CoreLogic RP Data show Australia’s capital cities are expected to hold 1,727 auctions this week compared to the 3,028 scheduled last week.

The strong run in the past few weeks has helped push Australia’s capital city yearly auction total into record territory, with 108,500 having been held in 2015.

Compared to previous years, there were 104,444 capital city auctions held in 2014, 81,473 in 2013 and just 62,713 in 2012.

Last week’s national clearance rate finalised at 54.2%.

This week, volumes are down in all capital cities except Perth and Brisbane, with the most notable falls in Melbourne and Sydney.

After holding 1,572 auctions last week, the Victorian capital is predicted to only see 872 homes go under the hammer this week.

Last week saw Melbourne’s clearance rate take a slight increase, rising to 64.9% from the previous week’s 63.3%.

Volumes have nearly halved in Sydney this week as well, with the harbour city scheduled for 470 auctions this week compared to last week’s 891.

Sydney also saw a small week-on-week clearance rate increase last week, up to 54.7% from 52.9%.

The busiest individual suburbs for auctions across Australia this week are all located in Melbourne, with 19 auctions scheduled in Craigieburn, 17 in Reservoir and 16 in Mill Park.

In Brisbane, 186 auctions are scheduled compared to last week’s 180, for which the Queensland capital returned a clearance rate of 41.9%

In Adelaide, 118 auctions are scheduled for this week after it held 154 last week, while Canberra will hold 99 this week after the 115 held the previous week.

Their clearance rates of 49.3% and 48.6% respectively last week were Adelaide and Canberra’s weakest of the year.

In Perth, 66 auctions are scheduled compared to last week’s 60, from which the city returned a clearance rate of 36.2%.