Australia’s auction market has ended summer on a high note, with preliminary figures from CoreLogic RP Data putting the national clearance rate above 70% for the fourth straight week.

Last week’s preliminary national clearance rate currently sits at 72.4%, which is a slight strengthening on the previous week’s result of 71.8%.

The four-week stretch through February has been a stronger start to the year than was expected, and is the strongest performance put up by the country’s market since September 2015.

Melbourne was the nation’s best performing market over the week, with the Victorian capital home to the highest auction volumes and clearance rate.

Melbourne’s preliminary clearance rate currently sits at 75% from 1,327 auctions, compared to the 74.1% from 1,105 auctions it posted over the previous week.

The corresponding week one year ago saw the city return a clearance rate of 77.1% from 1,565 auctions.

Melbourne’s top performing sub-region last week was the Inner South, which returned a clearance rate of 83.9%.

Despite a week-on-week fall last week, Sydney has still managed to break the 70% barrier.

Sydney’s preliminary clearance rate currently sits at 73.3% from 872 auctions, compared to the 76.5% from 800 auctions it registered over the previous week.

The Eastern Suburbs was the city’s best performing sub-region over the week, with a preliminary clearance rate of 86.9%, followed by Ryde at 81.9%.

Last week saw 175 auctions held in Brisbane, a figure similar to the 172 last week; however, the Queensland capital did see its clearance rate increases from 53.1% to 58.3%.

Last week was a stronger week for the auction market in Adelaide, with it posting a clearance rate of 72.7% from 118 auctions, compared to the 64.6% recorded from 112 auctions the week prior.

Canberra saw a similar improvement over the week, with its clearance rate increasing to 69.6%, up from the 61.9% recorded over the previous week.

Perth’s preliminary clearance rate currently sits at 44.4% from 47 auctions.