In this article
Kooky
Builder of Shaka, the payment router that pays every agent their commission on closing date.
About Kooky and Shaka →Through the first three weeks of spring, the last line of the weekly auction table belonged to Brisbane. In Cotality's preliminary results for the week ending 27 September, published on Monday 28 September, it does not. Brisbane's early clearance rate rose 5.1 percentage points to 42.6 per cent, while Adelaide's fell 18.9 points to 39.3 per cent. Perth, on a handful of results, came in at 42.9 per cent.
The change of order owes as much to other cities weakening as to Brisbane improving. The combined capitals preliminary rate fell to 50.3 per cent, which Cotality describes as the lowest in ten weeks.
Cotality, Property Market Indicator Summary, week ending 27 September 2026. Preliminary results, published 28 September.
A smaller week in Brisbane
Brisbane held 144 auctions, which Cotality says was 18.2 per cent fewer than the previous week and 2.7 per cent fewer than the same week last year. The count is exactly what the firm's preview of 23 September had listed as scheduled. Its summary table shows 94 results collected by the time of publication: 40 sold and 54 not sold. Fifty auctions were still to be reported.
That is a thinner sample than usual. About 65 per cent of Brisbane's auctions had a result in the table, compared with 69 per cent the week before, when 120 results had been collected from 174 auctions, and 74 per cent in the week ending 13 September.
The first reading has also not been a steady guide to the final one this spring. In the week ending 6 September, Brisbane's preliminary 24.8 per cent finalised slightly higher, at 26.0 per cent. In the week ending 13 September, 41.6 per cent became 38.5 per cent. In the week ending 20 September, 37.5 per cent became 31.4 per cent. Two of the three moved down, by 3.1 and 6.1 points, and with 50 results outstanding the final figure for this week could sit some distance from 42.6 per cent in either direction.
Related readBrisbane's early auction clearance rate climbs back above 40 per centThe gap between the two readings follows from how they are made. Cotality aims to capture the result of every known auction and publishes what it has at the start of the week, then updates the table as the remaining results come in. Its clearance rate sets the homes known to have sold before, at or after auction against all known results, with passed-in and withdrawn properties counted as unsold. Sales tend to be reported first, so the first count often flatters the week a little.
Eighteen of the past 19 weeks below 50 per cent
Cotality notes that Brisbane's preliminary clearance rate has been under 50 per cent in 18 of the past 19 weeks. A reading of 42.6 per cent is better than most of those weeks, and it still means more than half of the reported auctions did not sell on the day.
On early readings, this is Brisbane's best week of the spring by a point, just ahead of the 41.6 per cent of the week ending 13 September. It was achieved with fewer sales, though: 40 reported this week against 52 a fortnight ago, on a smaller list. Last year's levels remain distant. Cotality's finalised release of 23 September put Brisbane's clearance rate for the week ending 20 September at 31.4 per cent, against 61.9 per cent in the same week of 2025, a gap of 30.5 points. A first count in the low 40s narrows that distance without coming close to closing it.
The coasts post higher early rates
Both coastal markets recorded stronger preliminary figures than Brisbane, on small samples. On the Gold Coast, Cotality collected 58 results, of which 28 were sales and 30 were not, a preliminary clearance rate of 48.3 per cent. That is the region's highest first count of the spring. The earlier ones were 39.5 per cent, 36.4 per cent and 40.7 per cent.
Related readBrisbane ends June with the lowest auction clearance of any capitalThe Gold Coast's finals have been running lower than its first counts. The 36.4 per cent of the week ending 13 September finalised at 32.0 per cent, and the 40.7 per cent of the week ending 20 September at 31.3 per cent, with 15 sales from 48 auctions.
On the Sunshine Coast, six of the ten results collected from 17 auctions were sales, giving a preliminary rate of 60.0 per cent. Ten results is the smallest sample for which Cotality publishes a rate at all, and it cannot carry much weight. The region's early figure a week ago was 58.8 per cent on 17 results, and the final rate turned out to be 31.8 per cent. The final figures for both regions will follow later in the week.
How the other capitals fared
Sydney carried the week. With Melbourne largely absent, it held more than half of the 1,428 capital city auctions, and the national rate moved with it.
| Capital | Auctions | Sold of reported | Early rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canberra | 82 | 35 of 65 | 53.8% |
| Sydney | 790 | 323 of 603 | 53.6% |
| Melbourne | 286 | 98 of 201 | 48.8% |
| Perth | 21 | 6 of 14 | 42.9% |
| Adelaide | 103 | 22 of 56 | 39.3% |
Cotality, Property Market Indicator Summary, week ending 27 September 2026. Preliminary results. Two auctions were held in Tasmania.
Sydney's 790 auctions were 39 per cent more than a week earlier and its busiest week since late May, Cotality says, though still 32 per cent below the same week last year. Its preliminary rate eased 0.6 points to an eight-week low, while staying marginally above the city's winter average of 52.9 per cent.
Canberra's rate slipped 3.7 points and remained well above its winter average of 45.4 per cent, on 46 per cent more auctions than the week before. Perth's figure rests on 14 results.
Why the national rate fell
Two cities pulled the combined capitals rate down. The first was Melbourne, where the AFL Grand Final long weekend cut the number of auctions to 286, which Cotality says was 69 per cent fewer than the week before, though 28 per cent more than in last year's Grand Final week. Melbourne's preliminary rate dropped 7.5 points to 48.8 per cent, the city's lowest since early September 2021.
Related readJuly at auction: Brisbane's four final results, none above 35.4 per centThe second was Adelaide. Its 39.3 per cent from 103 auctions was only the second time this year that city has recorded an early rate under 40 per cent, according to Cotality. Adelaide is one of the few capitals holding more auctions than a year ago, with volumes up 32.1 per cent on the same week of 2025, and this week a much smaller share of them sold.
In total, 1,428 capital city homes went to auction. Cotality puts that 22.4 per cent below the previous week and 17.7 per cent below the same week last year. The annual gap is narrower than it has been for most of the spring, when volumes ran more than 30 per cent behind 2025 for six weeks in a row. That is partly a matter of timing, because the comparison week a year ago was also a Grand Final week.
The pattern of unsold homes described in Cotality's finalised figures of 23 September is worth keeping in view. In the week ending 20 September, 652 capital city auctions were passed in and 285 were withdrawn, so pass-ins made up 69.6 per cent of the unsuccessful results. The firm read that as a possible sign that buyers and vendors are apart on price. A preliminary table does not separate the two kinds of outcome, so this week's split will not be known until the final release.
Next: the King's Birthday long weekend
The coming week brings Queensland's own interruption. The King's Birthday public holiday falls on Monday 5 October, and Cotality said in its preview of 23 September that it expected capital city volumes to fall below 1,300 as that holiday and Labour Day in New South Wales, the ACT and South Australia arrive together. Sydney, the busiest market this week, has only about 390 auctions scheduled for the next one.
There is also a date in the middle of the week that every auction buyer with a loan will be watching. The Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy Board is due to announce its next decision on Tuesday 29 September. Cotality noted last week that the three cash rate increases already made this year, to 4.35 per cent, have reduced borrowing capacity. The decision is not known at the time of writing.
For Brisbane, a week off the bottom of the table is a modest piece of good news for sellers and agents who have worked through a long run of difficult Saturdays. One week does not change the level: fewer than half of the city's reported auctions are selling under the hammer, as has been the case since late autumn. The finalised rate, and the count of Brisbane auctions booked for the long weekend, are due later this week.
Kooky, from Shaka
Kooky edits Queensland Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for Queensland property professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.
