Melbourne loses crown as nation’s auction capital to Sydney as real estate market fires up

As real estate buying and selling heats up again for 2025, Victoria has been surpassed as the nation’s auction mecca, with more auctions scheduled in another state for most of February.

5 Avon Place, Epping is going under the hammer on Saturday at 1:15pm.

Melbourne will be surpassed by Sydney as the nation’s auction capital this weekend.

PropTrack research reveals there are 536 homes going under the hammer in Victoria — 30 per cent less than this time last year — compared to 663 in New South Wales.

And the Victoria will play second fiddle for the next three weeks.

RELATED: Actress selling Yarra Valley acreage with Kung Fu, meditation room

Homebuilding giant’s $10m buyout to affect 1000s of Aussies

Warning: 36 new no-go Aus suburbs exposed

REA Group senior economist Anne Flaherty said the only times New South Wales had more scheduled auctions than Victoria was when there were public holidays in Victoria.

“The fact that over the next three weeks in a row, New South Wales is forecast to have more auctions is definitely unusual,” Ms Flaherty.

“Because market conditions are so different in Victoria compared to a lot of the other states at the moment, I think that there’s been a decrease in seller sentiment.

“(This) is leading to perhaps a decrease in the number of times hitting the market in Victoria.”

This four-bedroom house at 2 Azure Rd, Wollert is going under the hammer at 10am on Saturday.

Wollert has the most amount of auctions scheduled this week.

She added that Victorian property owners had the most negative sentiment towards selling of any state, a recent REA Group survey revealed.

Only 14 per cent of Victorian homeowners believed it was the time to sell, compared to 22 per cent in New South Wales.

Ms Flaherty said sentiment could change if interest rates were cut in February, but there was a lot of uncertainty given the upcoming federal election and other events which could impact inflation.

The areas with the most amount of homes going under the hammer this week are Wollert, 25, Epping, 12, and Lalor, 9.

1/109 Addison St, Elwood is going under the hammer at 11:30am on Saturday and has a $950,000-$1.045m price guide.

This two-bedroom apartment was the most viewed home scheduled to be auctioned on realestate.com.au.

A two-bedroom apartment at 1/109 Addison St, Elwood was the most viewed property to be going to auction this weekend, which has a $950,000-$1.045m price guide.

But Real Estate Institute of Victoria president Kelly Ryan said 2025 would bring a heap of optimism back into the property market, with potential interest rate cuts on the horizon that would restore some confidence among buyers.

“While the capital growth hasn’t been in Victoria for the last little while, we know that’s a moment in time,” Ms Ryan said.

“We’re just not sure how the investors yet are still feeling about the quantum of change in their market, so that’s still to be tested.”

---

Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox.

MORE: Country churches turn heads as buyers seek conversions

Iconic David Jones Bourke St store sells for $223m+

Supercar champ, ex-Total Tools boss punting Peninsula pad

[e-mail]

Originally published as Melbourne loses crown as nation’s auction capital to Sydney as real estate market fires up