Home buying demand is falling off a cliff. Softer prices are a near-certainty

April 27, 2026 — 1:30pm

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House buyers are increasingly timid and sellers have unrealistic price expectations. That’s the market equation feeding into the weekend’s anaemic auction clearance rates, which are now approaching lows not seen since the pandemic.

Prices should follow clearance rates down; in a few days, when April closes out, we will see how much value has been eroded this month.

Auction clearance rates are a lead indicator, and the harbinger for softer prices is already clear.

Over the Anzac weekend in Sydney less than half the residential properties scheduled for auction were sold, while in Melbourne that figure hit a slightly less diabolical 56 per cent; but in Brisbane the auction clearance rate registered an alarming 37 per cent, according to Domain.

Some were withdrawn before auction, while the remainder were passed in.

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