Auctions declined but clearance rates tracked higher across the combined capital cities over last week.

Property information provider CoreLogic, in its recent report, showed that 2,689 homes went under the hammer across the combined capital cities over the week. This marked a decline from the previous week’s 2,745 auctions and last year’s 3,438 auctions.

The preliminary clearance rate during the week, on the other hand, increased to 46.9% from the previous week’s final clearance rate of 42%, the lowest clearance rate recorded since June 2012. A year ago, a clearance rate of 61.1% was logged.

CoreLogic said that as final results are gathered, however, the clearance rate will likely go down below the 45% mark for the fourth consecutive week.

Melbourne, one of the largest auction markets, also saw its clearance rate improving from previous week’s final clearance rate of 41.3% across 1,401 auctions. Over the week, the city held a total of 1,137 auctions with preliminary results showing a clearance rate of 44%.

Year-over-year, the auction clearance rate was significantly higher with 65.5% of the 1,736 auctions successfully purchased.

Sydney recorded its fifth-busiest week of the year after registering a total of 1,021 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 52.4%. This figure was significantly higher than the previous week’s clearance rate 42.8% across 875 auctions. It was noted that the final results clearance rate may potentially reach just above 45%.

 Over the same week last year, 1,215 homes were taken to auction across New South Wales’ capital, returning a clearance rate of 56.8%.

Smaller auction markets Perth and Tasmania were the only areas to see auction volumes sink week-on-week.