Auction volumes across Australia this week have followed their annual trend for this time of the year with a significant decrease.

Due to a combination of winter weather and school holidays, CoreLogic RP Data are expecting 1,689 auctions across the capital cities this week, down from the 2,249 held last week.

The decrease is consistent with the pattern seen over recent years, with a 28% fall in volumes seen during this week in 2014 and a 35% fall in 2013.

Melbourne has seen the biggest week on week fall, with only 668 auctions scheduled for this week compared to the 1,007 held last week, though the figure is up on the 549 held this week last year.

This week’s limited amount of stock may prove a boon for Melbourne though, as it looks to break a three-week run where its clearance rate hasn’t topped 80%.

Sydney is expected to see 724 auctions this week, a fall from the 896 held last week, but noticeably higher than the 597 for this week last year.

The harbour city will also be hoping the reduced volume results in an increase in its clearance rate following a sustained fall over recent months.

Sydney and Melbourne this week split the honours of suburbs with the highest number of auctions, with Epping and St Kilda each set to hold 12.

There are 105 Brisbane homes being taken to auction this week, down from 140 last week and also lower than at the same time last year (126), while Adelaide has seen somewhat of an interesting increase with 91 auctions scheduled for the week, higher than last week (84) and last year (83).

Canberra has 56 auctions scheduled and Perth 38 and both cities will be hoping they can continue posting some of their strongest clearance rates seen in recent months.