August's five early readings: Brisbane auctions peak, then slide

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Kooky

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Brisbane's auction market finished winter on its lowest early reading of August. Preliminary Cotality figures for the week ending Sunday 30 August, reported by Australian Broker on Monday 31 August, put the city's clearance rate at 31.5 per cent. It is Brisbane's lowest preliminary rate since the 30.5 per cent of the week ending 26 July.

In the same count, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast both recorded higher early rates than the capital. It is the only week this month in which both have done so on the preliminary figures.

Cotality Property Market Indicator Summary, preliminary clearance rates for the week ending 30 August 2026.

Five early readings in August

Cotality publishes a preliminary rate each Monday. Brisbane's five readings for the weeks ending in August trace a rise to the middle of the month and a fall since.

The latest figure is 8.9 points under the 40.4 per cent of a week earlier and 20.4 points under the mid-month peak. Only two of the firm's Monday readings since the start of July were lower: the 23.8 per cent of the week ending 5 July and the 30.5 per cent of the week ending 26 July. The other six were higher.

How the first four settled

The mid-month peak did not survive the fuller count. Each of the four earlier August weeks now has a final rate, published by Cotality on the following Thursday, and each final rate came in under its preliminary one.

On the final measure, Brisbane spent the first four weeks of August between about 33 and 38 per cent, a much narrower band than the early readings suggest. The swings in the Monday figure came largely from how much of each week had been heard from. The two smallest revisions belong to the two weeks with the fullest early counts, and the largest to the week when barely more than half of the city's auctions had reported.

The sales counts show the mechanism. In the week ending 16 August, Brisbane's early figure had 41 sales among 79 results, and the final table had 51 among 142, so the 63 results added later held ten sales. In the week ending 23 August, 36 sales among 89 results became 49 among 151, which puts 13 sales in the 62 late results. In both weeks the homes reported first were far more likely to have sold.

Last week's early figure of 31.5 per cent is already below the range of the four final rates. If it is revised in the same direction as the others, the week ending 30 August would be Brisbane's weakest final result of the month. That is a conditional, not a finding: Cotality's final figure is due on Thursday 3 September.

What sits behind 31.5 per cent

Cotality's weekly indicator summary counts 149 auctions in Brisbane for the week ending 30 August, the same number the firm had listed as scheduled in its preview four days earlier. Results had been collected for 92 of them. Of those, 29 were recorded as sold and 63 as not sold.

So 57 auctions, a little under two in five, had no reported result when the early rate was calculated. That is a fuller picture than the firm had in mid-August, and it is one reason to expect a smaller revision than that week produced. It is not a reason to expect none. The 29 reported sales are 19.5 per cent of all 149 auctions, which is where the week would finish if none of the outstanding results were a sale.

The count of auctions has held up through the month. Cotality's final releases show 161 Brisbane auctions in the week ending 9 August, 142 in the week ending 16 August and 151 in the week ending 23 August. Last week's 149 was 1.3 per cent down on the week and 21.1 per cent above the 123 held in the same week of 2025, according to the firm.

That annual comparison cuts both ways. A year ago Brisbane held fewer auctions at the end of winter and, on Cotality's figures for the week before, cleared 62.5 per cent of them. This year more sellers have chosen the method, and the early rate is about half that.

The coastal markets

On the Gold Coast, Cotality's summary shows 56 auctions for the week ending 30 August. Of the 40 with a reported result, 16 sold, which gives the preliminary rate of 40.0 per cent. On the Sunshine Coast, 31 auctions were held, 20 had a reported result and 9 of those sold, a preliminary rate of 45.0 per cent.

These are small counts. On the Sunshine Coast a single extra sale among 20 results moves the rate by five points, and 11 auctions there had not reported at all. Cotality will not publish a rate on fewer than ten results, and the Sunshine Coast's early figure rests on twice that minimum.

The Gold Coast's early rates this month have also run ahead of its final ones: its preliminary 46.2 per cent for the week ending 16 August finished at 33.3 per cent, and its preliminary 35.7 per cent for the week ending 23 August finished at 31.2 per cent. Its final rate has not been above 34 per cent in any week of August so far. The Sunshine Coast has been less predictable, with final rates of 40.0 per cent, 25.0 per cent, 51.4 per cent and 32.1 per cent across the month's first four weeks.

With that caution, the early coastal figures are the firmer part of this week's Queensland picture. Sellers on both coasts go into spring with early clearance rates in the 40s, where Brisbane's is in the low 30s. The three markets together held 236 auctions, and 54 of the 152 with a reported result were sales.

The national count

Across the combined capitals, Cotality's preliminary clearance rate for the week ending 30 August was 52.4 per cent from 1,482 auctions, with results collected for 1,153 of them and 605 recorded as sold. The week before, the early national rate was 53.2 per cent. Sydney's early rate was 56.3 per cent from 516 auctions and Melbourne's 54.9 per cent from 653, the third week in a row in which Melbourne's preliminary figure has eased. Adelaide recorded 50.8 per cent and Canberra 41.7 per cent.

Brisbane was again the lowest of the capitals with a published rate, about 21 points under the combined figure and ten points under Canberra.

Volumes rose into the last week of winter and stayed far short of last year's. Cotality puts the national count 6.6 per cent above the previous week and 32.3 per cent below the same week of 2025. Sydney held 8.2 per cent more auctions than the week before and Melbourne 9.9 per cent more, and both remained more than a third under their year-ago levels. Brisbane and Adelaide, up 21.1 per cent and 1.9 per cent on the year, were the mainland exceptions among the larger markets.

Australian Broker, citing Cotality's commentary, reported that buyer demand remains measured and that the rise in available stock is weighing on clearance rates.

The early national figure will also be revised. Cotality's final rates for the combined capitals through August have been 48.9 per cent, 51.4 per cent, 48.9 per cent and 48.2 per cent, each several points under that week's preliminary reading, and its release of 27 August counted twelve of the past thirteen weeks as finishing under 50 per cent.

Into spring

Spring begins on Tuesday 1 September. Cotality's commentary on the week has about 1,500 auctions scheduled across the capitals for the first week of the season and more than 1,600 for the week after, while cautioning that activity is unlikely to match last year's levels. Its preview of 27 August had put the week ending 6 September at about 1,450.

For Brisbane the nearer date is Thursday, when the final rate for the week ending 30 August replaces the early one, and the final rows for the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast show whether their early rates in the 40s held.

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.

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