David Bonaddio, Real Estate Reporter
First published 15 Nov 2026, 9:00am
Two bidders pushed a vacant block at 92 Rattray Rd, Montmorency, to $1,000,500, exceeding its publicly disclosed $700,000 reserve by $300,500.
Melbourne’s famous auction culture is losing its grip, with fewer than one in six home sales taking place through auction campaigns as buyers gain bargaining power.
REA Group analysis shows auctions accounted for 15.7 per cent of preliminary Melbourne sales this spring, down from 23.7 per cent a year earlier.
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And the decline comes despite fewer properties hitting the market.
The October Market Snapshot found new Melbourne listings fell 26 per cent over the year, while home prices dropped 6.1 per cent. Total advertised stock was also down 3.4 per cent.
REA Group senior economist Angus Moore warned Melbourne’s auction market remained subdued, with higher interest rates weighing on buyer demand and property prices falling.
Senior economist Angus Moore noted last October was unusually busy and this year had one fewer working day, but said new listings were still below levels typical of the past decade.
Mr Moore said clearance rates had “shown little sign of improving through spring”, after hovering around the low-to-mid 50s since autumn.
He said higher interest rates were suppressing demand, with November’s increase and the possibility of another early next year expected to keep pressure on prices.
Saturday’s early figures looked stronger, with a preliminary Melbourne clearance rate of 60.6 per cent after 200 sales from 330 reported results.
There were 104 sales under the hammer, 95 before auction and one afterwards, while 96 properties were passed in, 31 withdrawn and three postponed.
But early figures can flatter a struggling market.
The previous weekend’s preliminary 60 per cent result was revised to 51 per cent in figures published on Thursday as more outcomes were recorded.
Buckingham & Company partner Ryan Buckingham says Victoria’s new auction reserve disclosure rules are prompting him to favour private sales as buyers hold back.
Among Saturday’s biggest transactions, a four-bedroom home at 7 Carson Crescent, Hawthorn, sold before auction for $4.4m through Marshall White.
A Canterbury house at 3 Flinders Ave fetched $3.135m, followed by 3 Hume Street, Kew, at $2.9m. Sales at 66 Victoria Road, Hawthorn East, and 20 Naro Street, Balwyn, reached $2.88m and $2.516m respectively.
Even the uncertain market produced an extraordinary contest at Montmorency, where two buyers pushed a vacant 713sq m block at 92 Rattray Road to $1,000,500, more than $300,000 above its disclosed reserve.
Yet Buckingham & Company partner Ryan Buckingham said the traditional auction was no longer his automatic choice.
New rules requiring reserves to be disclosed seven days before auctions or fixed-date sales had added uncertainty, he said, prompting him to favour private negotiations.
“I’m doing a lot of private sales,” Mr Buckingham said.
“So now with the private sales, it’s not that transparent.”
A four-bedroom home at 7 Carson Crescent, Hawthorn, topped Melbourne’s reported auction results at $4.4m after selling before its scheduled auction.
The five-bedroom property at 3 Flinders Ave, Canterbury, sold for $3.135m, the second-highest result reported by REA Group.
For Mr Buckingham, the problem was not necessarily sellers demanding unrealistic prices.
“It’s more just buyers sitting back,” he said.
Mr Buckingham said renters with finance approval were increasingly looking to buy before Christmas rather than risk another rental search over December, January or February.
A four-bedroom house at 66 Victoria Rd, Hawthorn East, sold for $2.88m as Melbourne’s eastern suburbs dominated the weekend’s biggest sales.
The four-bedroom home at 3 Hume St, Kew, fetched $2.9m, ranking among Melbourne’s three highest reported sales for the weekend.
“I’ve seen an influx of renters getting into the market,” he said.
Other homeowners were waiting until after Victoria’s November 28 election to list, he said, hoping a potential change of government would improve confidence.
The four-bedroom home at 20 Naro St, Balwyn, fetched $2.516m, rounding out Melbourne’s five highest reported auction sales for the weekend.
That could make the traditional holiday slowdown unusually busy, with some agents already planning Boxing Day campaigns to catch buyers browsing property listings while on leave.
“I reckon December, January could be very busy,” Mr Buckingham said.
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