Housing auction clearance rates across Australia's capital cities have dipped slightly but remain fundamentally strong, with analysts awaiting a potential glut of properties hitting the market in spring.

The number of homes taken to auction in the past week reached 1605, almost 200 auctions higher than the previous week, CoreLogic data shows.

Across the capital cities, the preliminary auction clearance rate softened to 73.6 per cent, down from the previous week’s final clearance rate of 74.2 per cent – the highest figure since April 2017.

Sydney defeated Melbourne in the battle of the two largest cities with a clearance rate of 78.9 per cent to 76.1 per cent.

Both cities were below 60 per cent this time last year.

CoreLogic analyst Kevin Brogan said buyer confidence in the two major cities had been clear for some time and was encouraging as spring commenced.

“Last week was a particularly good week but what we’ve seen this week is a pretty strong result,” Mr Brogan said on Sunday.

“These clearance rates have been consistently high for the past few weeks.

“What we are still looking for is whether there’s a surge of listings coming through in spring because we’ve seen over the past few weeks there’s been an increase in auction activity, but it’s been very gradual.”

In the other capital cities, Adelaide recorded a 62.5 per cent clearance rate, while Canberra was right behind on 61.5 per cent.

Only 45.8 per cent of homes at auction in Brisbane sold, however.

Mr Brogan said the current trends mirrored those of the 2012-13 period, the last time in which the capital cities emerged from a property rut.

The median sale price for all cities and all dwelling types was $900,000, with medians of $1,175,000 in Sydney and $822,000 in Melbourne.

Source: AAP