The softening of Australia’s auction market looks to be continuing, with the national combined capital city clearance rate falling below 70% for another week.

According to figures from CoreLogic RP Data, 2,817 auctions were held across the country last week with the preliminary clearance rate currently sitting at 69.3%.

The previous week saw a final clearance rate of 69.5%, and if there is no improvement in the preliminary rate, it will mark a run of five straight weeks below 70%.

Melbourne was the best performing city last week, with its preliminary clearance rate sitting at 73.6% from 1,193 reported auctions.

In comparison, for the previous week the Victorian capital returned a final clearance rate of 73.4%, while for the same week last year the city’s clearance rate was 71.7%.

Last week the Outer East was the strongest sub-region, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 82.1%, while the Inner Melbourne sub-region was the busiest with 287 auctions.

It was another tough week for vendors in Sydney, with the harbour city’s clearance rate sitting at 66.6% from 830 reported auctions.

If there is no improvement for that result, it will be city’s lowest weekly clearance rate since the first week of December 2014.

The previous week Sydney recorded a final clearance rate of 69.6%, while the city’s clearance rate 12 months ago was 72%.

Last week was a mixed bag across the city, with varying clearance rates recorded by Sydney’s sub-regions.

In the Outer South West, the preliminary clearance rate is 47.6%, while the Inner West’s preliminary rate sits at 80% and the Eastern Suburbs is currently at 76.8%.  

Brisbane’s clearance rate also looks to have taken a week-on-week hit, with the city’s preliminary clearance rate currently at 53.2%, down slightly from 53.8% over the previous week.

Adelaide on the other hand has so far seen a jump in its clearance rate, with the preliminary mark currently at 72.1%, up from the final mark of 64% recorded in the previous week.

In Perth, two sales have been confirmed from eight reported auctions, while seven of Tasmania’s 12 auctions resulted in sales.