Auction Clearance Rate

Plain-English definition. The auction clearance rate is the share of properties that successfully sold under the hammer (or shortly before/after) out of all properties scheduled to go to auction in a given week.

How it works in Australia. Sydney and Melbourne rely heavily on auctions — typically 25–35% of metro sales clear via auction, compared with under 10% in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. Weekly clearance rates are published by CoreLogic and Domain. The rate counts a property as "sold" if it sold prior, sold under the hammer, or sold immediately after auction. "Passed in" or "withdrawn" auctions count against. Above 70% signals a hot market; below 55% suggests buyers have the upper hand.

Concrete example. Melbourne might schedule 1,200 auctions on a spring Saturday. If 780 sell, 320 pass in, and 100 are withdrawn, the preliminary clearance rate is 65%. Final rates are usually revised down 3–5 points by Tuesday once late results filter in.

Common confusion. The headline preliminary rate often overstates the true rate because unreported results are excluded from the denominator on Saturday night. Comparing one week's preliminary number to last week's revised number is a frequent media error.