Sydney's continuing home price slide kept capital city values largely flat last week, while auction activity has increased.

The number of home auctions rose to 779 in the week to February 4 – almost triple the number of a week earlier – but that was down on the 881 in the same period a year ago, data from property analytics group Corelogic show.

The percentage of homes which found a buyer was also down, with the preliminary clearance rate of 67.7 per cent across the combined capital cities well below the previous week’s 72.8 per cent, and lower than the 68.8 per cent rate at the same time in 2017.

Sydney’s average home value fell 0.2 per cent, as prices remained limp around the capitals over week, with Perth prices down 0.1 per cent and Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane values steady.

Over the 12 months, Sydney’s average prices gained 1.0 per cent, while top performer Melbourne’s lifted 7.9 per cent.

The average price for a house in Sydney is now $800,000, while the median cost of a unit is $650,500.

In Melbourne, the Harbour City’s closest rival, a house on average costs around $680,000 and a unit $491,000.

Adelaide and Melbourne enjoyed the highest clearance rates, at 76.7 per cent and 72.8 per cent, respectively, while Melbourne was the only capital city to grow auction volumes from the same time in 2017.

Brisbane had the fewest buyers with just 46.6 per cent of homes put to auction selling.

CoreLogic said that with auction activity just starting up, the next weeks should help clarify whether auction sales will fall back to the low levels seen ahead of Christmas.

By Christian Edwards