A two-bedroom house in Sydney’s eastern suburbs beat its reserve price by $725,000 over the weekend, while a four-bedroom home on the lower north shore sold for $330,000 more than the vendor’s lower limit, amid signs that demand is recovering for high-end properties.

CoreLogic’s preliminary auction clearance numbers show Sydney and Melbourne held above the 70 per cent mark at 71.4 per cent and 70.3 per cent, respectively, although both fell from the previous week’s results.