Weekly house prices fall but auctions soar

Australia's five major capital cities had their second busiest home auctions for the year last week but home prices, on a weekly basis, continue to fall.

Australia's five major capital cities had their second busiest home auctions for the year last week. (AAP) Source: AAP

The number of home auctions surged last week to become the second busiest week for the year so far, while prices rose on annual basis.

Capital city home prices were down on average by 0.1 per cent last week compared to the prior week, but they were up 1.1 per cent compared to a year ago.

Nearly 3,100 homes went under the hammer across Australia's five major capital cities in the week ending March 18, making it the second busiest week this year so far, property group CoreLogic's data shows.

This is significantly higher than the 1,764 auctions held in the same period a year ago.

However, the clearance rate of 67.5 per cent last week, while higher than the prior week, was lower than the 74.1 per cent clearance rate a year ago.

Compared to a year ago, Sydney's prices fell 1.7 per cent, Melbourne's rose 5.9 per cent, Brisbane's gained 1.7 per cent, Adelaide's lifted 1.9 per cent and Perth's dropped 2.7 per cent.