It looks as though the housing market collapse will have to wait at least another week.
Demand for homes remained strong over the week to Sunday, with the capital city auction clearance rate staying high and prices holding firm despite a rising number of homes going under the hammer.
At the same time, the proportion of auctions ending with a sale - the auction clearance rate - was relatively high at 75.6 per cent, according to property market data firm CoreLogic.
That was down only marginally from 75.8 per cent the previous week but well up on the 59.5 per cent clearance rate in the corresponding week of 2015.
In commentary on their data, CoreLogic's analysts said there was no indication that clearance rates were starting to ease as the market heads into the peak selling period ahead of Christmas.
"However, when compared to last year, auction volumes continue to track lower with vendors still seemingly reluctant to place their properties on the market despite such strong selling conditions," CoreLogic said.
The number of auctions in the state and territory capitals rose to 2,950 in the week to Sunday, from 2,897 the week before.
Even so, the volume of sales was still down 6.8 per cent from the 3,166 auctions recorded in the same week of last year.
Average prices in the mainland state capitals ended four weeks of gains with a fall of 0.2 per cent, thanks to declines in Melbourne and Brisbane, although annual growth averaged across the five capitals was still strong at 9.1 per cent.
Prices rose by 0.2 per cent last week in Sydney and by 0.7 per cent in Adelaide, were steady in Perth but fell by 0.8 per cent in Melbourne and 0.6 per cent in Brisbane/Gold Coast.
The recent pattern of widely diverging annual rises remained firmly in pace, with solid gains of 12.9 per cent in Sydney and 10.9 per cent in Melbourne, more moderate increases of 5.2 per cent in Brisbane/Gold Coast and 3.6 per cent in Adelaide, while in Perth prices fell 4.2 per cent.
