National Auction Markets Easing
While results remain strong, clearance rates are trending lower.
By Kanebridge News
Mon, May 17, 2021 11:19am
2 min
2 min
With a surge of sellers keen to take advantage of strong buyer competition, the home auction markets reported lower clearance rates and clear signs that the white-hot market is beginning to cool.
A total of 2401 homes were reported as listed for auction on Saturday, May 15, which, although lower than last weekend’s May record 2563 listings, provided plenty of choices for buyers.
The national average weekend clearance rate was down on Saturday, falling from 83.1% to 80.9% – the lowest result since the 77.7% recorded on January 30.
This is the fourth consecutive weekend that clearance rates have fallen and is well below the peak national average of 88.5%, recorded on March 5.
Sydney hosted another incredibly busy weekend of auctions, with 9990 Sydney auctions reported on Saturday – just below the previous weekend’s May record 1014.
With a larger volume of auctions, the Sydney clearance rate fell to 82.9%, down on the previous weekend’s 83.5%, and the fourth consecutive weekend of falling rates.
Sydney recorded a median price of $1,641,000 for houses sold at auction at the weekend, just below the $1,650,000 reported over the previous Saturday, but 16.4% higher than the $1,410,000 recorded over the same weekend last year.
Melbourne again saw a surge in auction volumes, which pushed the clearance rate down to a year low reporting a clearance rate of 78.6%, well below the 80.7% recorded the previous weekend.
A total of 1149 homes were reported listed for auction in Melbourne on Saturday, just below the 1248 May record auction the previous weekend and well ahead of the 82 auctioned over the same weekend last year.
Melbourne reached a median price of $1,093,000 for houses sold at auction on the weekend, which was 4.1% higher than the $1,050,000 recorded over the previous weekend and up 8.9% on the 1,002,944 recorded over the same weekend last year.
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The imposing stone structures, with towers, turrets and a hot tub room, lord over the landscape near the mountain resort town of Sandpoint.
By Liz Lucking
Mon, Jul 13, 2026 2 min
2 min
Idaho is not a place that’s often associated with Medieval castles, but a pair have just hit the market for $6.25 million.
The imposing stone structures have towers, turrets, ramparts, arrow-slit windows and even a drawbridge, and might just be the most authentic-looking castles this side of the Atlantic.
“Who expects to see a castle like this in Idaho?” said listing agent Brenda Burk of Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty, who brought the property to the market last week. They are, she said, “extremely unusual.”
Schweitzer Castle and Château de Melusine, as they’re known, stand within Schweitzer Mountain Resort in the Selkirk Mountains and overlook the nearby mountain resort town of Sandpoint. They take in panoramic views of Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho’s largest lake.
The pair of ski-in/ski-out homes each have three bedrooms, two bathrooms and three stories, Burk explained. They are “so authentic,” she said. “Every single stone was handlaid.”
Schweitzer Castle, she said, wasn’t built for “functionality,” but has been modernized and adapted and now has everything a 21st-century residence requires, along with a dungeon, which for some buyers may also be a requisite.
The chateau, meanwhile, has a hot tub room with mountain views, as well as a garage.
The property is being sold furnished, and will come complete with the hand-carved statues, armor, mounted swords, stained-glass windows and a host of antiques dating to the 15th and 16th centuries.
The owner, an antique collector who couldn’t be reached for comment, “is always looking for that hidden jewel and he found that here,” Burk said.
The next custodian is likely to stem from a varied pool of buyers, Burk said, that would include “the trophy-home buyer, someone who can say ‘I own a castle.’”
The property could also appeal to someone looking for a vacation home, or a multi-generational estate, and beyond that “there’s the dreamers,” she said. “We definitely try to market to people who like Medieval history or maybe do Renaissance fairs.”
The seller “really wants it to go to someone with the same passion.”
