National auction clearance rates in Australia drop to under 50 per cent for third week in a row after Labor's controversial tax changes

By ASHLEY NICKEL, NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 15:38, 5 July 2026 | Updated: 15:40, 5 July 2026 Less than half the properties up for auction around Australia were successfully sold for the third week in a row. New data from Cotality found 49.8 per cent of national auctions were successful last week, from June 29 to July 5, up from 49.2 per cent the week prior.   Cotality's Asia-Pacific executive research director Tim Lawless said that while this week's figures were a drop, they weren't the lowest we've seen this year. Last week's clearance rates in Sydney and Melbourne were the lowest seen in more than six years and almost five years, respectively. 'It's pretty rare to see clearance rates this low,' Mr Lawless said, the ABC reported. 'Clearance rates persistently holding this low shows a mismatch between buyer and seller expectations. 'It's probably another indicator of the market going through a phase of negative movements.' Mr Lawless attributed large parts of the decline to the changes to investment in the Federal Budget, the resulting lull in investment interest, as well as rate hikes and issues around affordability. Auction clearance rates were below 50 per cent around Australia for the third week in a row June also saw the biggest monthly fall in national property value since 2022 Cotality's data found June was the biggest monthly fall in national housing values on record since 2022. That followed the Federal Budget on May 12, in which Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax that made it less profitable for investors to buy real estate. He defended this as an effort to unlock the housing to first-home buyers by shifting the property market away from a tool to grow wealth towards housing as shelter.   All the above has resulted in a 'softer' market. 'We're seeing advertised listing numbers rising which means there's more supply in the marketplace and of course that means buyers have more choice,' Mr Lawless said. 'This takes urgency out of the market and gives them [buyers] more ability to negotiate.' Melbourns recorded the highest clearance rate this weekend at 54.5 per cent, followed by Sydney with 51.6 per cent. Canberra's auction success was 50 per cent and Adelaide's was 45.7 per cent. Brisbane's clearance rate suffered a massive drop from last week's 39.3 per cent to 23.8 per cent.   It's an even bigger drop when the figure is compared to the Queensland capital's clearance rate this time last year, which sat at 69.6 per cent. The average clearance rate for Australian capital cities at the time ranged between 63 and 70 per cent. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.