National auction clearance rates hit a five-month high this week and Sydney hit a six-month-high as more sellers became more realistic amid still sharply falling house prices and rising interest rates as the Reserve Bank tried to rein in rampant inflation.

CoreLogic recorded a 63.7 per cent preliminary clearance rate across the combined capital cities, a healthy 3.8 percentage points up on the previous week and the best result since late May. However, auction numbers totalled less than 1500, just over half what they were the same time last year (3292).