First published 31 Oct 2026, 9:00am
Melbourne’s auction market is tipped to have barely half of its 440 auctions end with a sale this week.
Melbourne’s housing market has been tipped to struggle through another weak weekend of auction action amid expectations of an interest rate hike next week.
The city is slated to host just 440 auctions for the pseudo-long weekend ahead of the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday, a fraction of the 1000-plus normally expected on a spring weekend — though only down by 5 per cent from the same weekend a year prior.
Market watchers are anticipating about half that number, barely a few hundred, will secure a sale with the Reserve Bank’s next rate decision to be made on Tuesday.
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REA Group chief economist Angus Moore said Melbourne would go into the weekend with clearance rates having already been “pretty soft”, mostly hovering in the mid 50 per cent range since March.
“And I think a rate hike looks very likely at this stage, given where inflation is at and given the RBA has been pretty clear with their concerns about that,” Mr Moore said.
“But that’s not a huge shock. So it will continue the pattern of what we have been seeing.”
That means home prices continuing to fall and clearance rates likely staying in the low to mid 50 per cent range — which has been maintained through four earlier increases to mortgage costs.
“So it won’t materially worsen conditions, but it won’t materially improve them,” he said.
Homes like 3/22 Gillman St, Cheltenham, are among those expected to trump the softer market conditions this weekend — with multiple buyers showing interest ahead of auction.
Ray White Victoria chief auctioneer Luke Banitsiotis said while some parts of the market were still faring well enough, the list of areas where buyer demand was faltering was growing.
“It’s almost like a plague, going from district to district and knocking off each, one by one,” Mr Banitsiotis said.
For home sellers, while a potential interest-rate hike by the Reserve Bank on Melbourne Cup Day had likely been considered by most buyers and wouldn’t deter them, he argued there was a growing need for sellers to be urgent, but not desperate, with just six or seven weeks to the end of the year.
The auctioneer added that there was no guarantee 2027 would bring immediate improvement.
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