COVID Withdrawals Drag Clearance Rates Down
A deluge of sellers brought auction activity to unprecedented levels.
By Kanebridge News
Mon, Jun 7, 2021 10:44am
2 min
2 min
A steady stream of sellers continues to flood national auction markets in record numbers as the winter selling season kicked off on Saturday June 5.
A total of 2697 homes were reported listed by the national auction capitals on Saturday – higher than the previous weekends 2505 – a record June offering and the second highest for the year so far.
National clearance rates, however, eased once again, reflecting the surge in listings alongside high withdrawals in a Melbourne market impacted by the COVID-related lockdown measures.
Saturday’s national clearance rate of 80.7% was the lowest of the year so far, below the previous weekend’s 82%.
The Sydney auction marked hosted another remarkable number of listings on Saturday to smash the June record for the number of properties auctioned. The city reported 1048 auctions on Saturday, higher than the previous weekend’s 981, and the second highest of the year so far.
The clearance rate lowered to 80.8% in Sydney on Saturday, lower than the previous weekend’s 82.2% but higher than the 57.9% recorded over the same weekend last year.
Despite the result being the lowest for the Harbour City this year, it marked the 17th consecutive weekend of clearance rates above 80%.
Sydney recorded a median price of $1,605,000 for houses sold at auction at the weekend which the same as reported over the previous Saturday but 17.8% higher than the $1,362,500 recorded over the same weekend last year.
Melbourne reported a clearance rate of 72.2% which was lower than the 76.5% recorded the previous weekend and the lowest result since the 66.9% recorded over October 24th last year – also impacted by lockdown at that time.
Further, Melbourne reported a remarkable 1379 auctions on Saturday which was well ahead of the 1272 conducted the previous weekend and the second highest for the year so far.
Melbourne recorded a median price of $1,046,000 for houses sold at auction on the weekend which was higher than the $987,500 recorded over the previous weekend and 25.6% higher than the $833,000 recorded over the same weekend last year.
Data powered by Dr Andrew Wilson of My Housing Market.
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The US housing market remains under pressure as high mortgage rates continue to weigh on affordability and demand. Industry leaders say 2026 has been one of the toughest years for home sales, with slower price growth, weaker mortgage activity, and fewer buyers entering the market. However, experts say reduced competition and more price cuts could create opportunities for well-prepared buyers.
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Mon, Aug 10, 2026 2 min
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The typically busy spring season for the housing market was a dud, and the summer isn’t looking much brighter.
Housing services companies like Zillow Group and Rocket RKT +3.78% were loud and clear last week on earnings calls: Rocket CEO Varun Krishna called the quarter through June “one of the toughest spring housing markets in years.”
Jeremy Hofmann, Zillow’s chief financial officer, said on a conference call that the company predicted earlier this year that the market for mortgages would be flat. “We actually now think it’s going to be down low-to-mid-single digits,” he said.
The rest of 2026 will remain challenging for mortgage origination volume, says KBW analyst Bose George. The question now is what happens in 2027. “If mortgage rates remain [around] 6.75%, I think that’s going to be challenging even for next year,” he says.
But what’s bad news for mortgage companies could be a positive for bargain hunters. Buyers can expect prices to grow more slowly—or mildly decline—with less competition as long as mortgage rates remain unpredictable.
Mortgage rates at the beginning of the year were solidly below year-ago levels, notes Zillow senior economist Kara Ng. But they surpassed last year’s levels recently, she adds, referencing Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of 30-year fixed mortgage rates. Last week’s reading, at 6.69%, was higher than year-ago levels for the first time in 2026.
“From the affordability point of view, it’s going to get more challenging in the second half of the year,” she says. “And when affordability gets more challenging, that impacts sales and home price appreciation.”
Mortgage application data tracked by the Mortgage Bankers Association has cooled since the beginning of the year. The trade group expects that the number of mortgage originations in the remaining two quarters will lag behind last year’s levels, after exceeding 2025 levels in the first half.
Rocket’s early-stage data—which the company told Barron’s it derives from its brokerage Redfin, demand for its mortgage products, and signs in its servicing portfolio that a homeowner is preparing to refinance or move—“leads us to expect the third quarter mortgage market to be smaller than the second,” Chief Financial Officer Brian Brown, said on the company’s call. He added that such an occurrence is “something the industry has not seen since 2022.”
Prices will be about flat nationally, Ng says. Zillow’s most recent forecast, which shows how values are expected to change in the year ending June 2027, show them dropping in roughly half of the 100 largest U.S. metros for which data is available.
Buyers aren’t rushing in at a time when mortgage costs are rising and unpredictable. But those with the right combination of patience and cash could stand to benefit. “If you are financially qualified to buy a starter home, you are facing less competition and you’re more likely to get a price cut,” Ng says.
