The property auction clearance rate across Australia's major cities fell to 47.4 per cent for the week ending 21 June 2026. That's the lowest figure recorded since the early days of COVID, according to Cotality.

A clearance rate is the percentage of properties that sell on the day they go to auction. Below 50 per cent means more than half the properties auctioned that week either passed in (failed to meet the vendor's reserve price) or were withdrawn before sale. The week before — ending 14 June — wasn't much better, at 48.3 per cent across roughly 2,095 auctions. Two weak weeks in a row doesn't read as a blip.

What does this mean in practical terms? Cotality is tracking about 2,000 auctions per week across the capital cities. At a clearance rate this low, that means hundreds of properties aren't selling that week. They get relisted, privately renegotiated, or pulled off the market. None of these routes are good news for sellers chasing top dollar.

The COVID comparison is instructive. Back in March and April 2020, clearance rates collapsed because lockdowns shut down inspections and buyers simply couldn't turn up to auctions. The market froze. But right now, buyers are showing up to auctions. They're just not bidding at the prices vendors are asking for. That's a different problem — and arguably says more about what buyers think property is worth than a sudden logistical freeze would.

One thing worth noting: the 47.4 per cent figure is preliminary. When Cotality releases the final count after all withdrawn and passed-in results are logged, it typically revises downward by several percentage points. So this number could sink lower still.

The real story here is what vendors and agents will do next. The old script — the one that's worked for the past three years — isn't working anymore. Two consecutive weeks of clearance rates in the high-40s at these volumes suggests the market's negotiating dynamics have shifted. Sellers used to have the upper hand; buyers had to bid harder to win. That advantage has eroded. From here, watch the data points that tell you whether things stabilise or get worse: how quickly vendors are dropping their asking prices, how long properties sit on market before they sell, and whether agents shift listings away from auctions toward private treaty sales, where they can negotiate prices behind closed doors.