Three weekends into February and the auction market is telling a clear story: buyers are back, but they’re pickier than they were this time last year.

I spent Saturday bouncing between Mosman, Neutral Bay, and Drummoyne. Crowds were solid. Registered bidders were up. But the gap between well-marketed properties and underdone campaigns has never been wider.

The Numbers So Far

Sydney’s preliminary clearance rate for the first two weekends of February sat at 69.2%, according to CoreLogic data. That’s a touch above the same period last year (67.4%) but well below the frothy 74-75% range we saw in late 2025.

Here’s what’s interesting when you break it down by region:

• Eastern Suburbs: 74% clearance, with strong results in Randwick and Coogee
• North Shore: 71%, carried by Mosman and Lane Cove
• Inner West: 68%, with Marrickville and Dulwich Hill performing well but Ashfield softer
• Western Sydney: 61%, with Parramatta holding up better than Penrith and Blacktown
• Sutherland Shire: 65%, down from 70% at the same point last year

The volume tells its own story. We’ve had roughly 580-620 auctions each weekend, which is healthy but not the 700+ super-weekends we used to see in February. Some vendors are still holding off, likely watching the RBA and waiting for clearer signals.

Days on Market: Where the Real Story Lives

Clearance rates get all the headlines, but I’ve always argued that days on market is the more honest indicator. And right now, it’s showing a split market.

For properties priced under $2 million across Sydney, median days on market is sitting at 26 days. That’s tight. Buyers in that bracket are competing hard, particularly first-home buyers in suburbs like Canterbury, Earlwood, and Rockdale where there’s still relative value.

Above $3 million, it stretches to 42 days. Prestige buyers are taking their time, doing more due diligence, requesting more inspections.

The strata market is moving faster than freestanding houses in most areas. Two-bedroom apartments in Surry Hills and Pyrmont are clearing in under 20 days when they’re priced right. That’s partly driven by investor activity returning, and partly by downsizers finally making moves.

Tech-Savvy Agencies Are Pulling Ahead

This is the part that fascinates me most. The performance gap between digitally mature agencies and traditional operations is becoming measurable, not just anecdotal.

Agencies running proper CRM-integrated campaigns with automated buyer matching, digital bidder registration, and real-time campaign analytics are achieving clearance rates 6-8 percentage points above the market average in their suburbs.

I saw it firsthand in Lane Cove on Saturday. One agency had 14 registered bidders for a three-bedroom semi. They’d pre-qualified every one digitally, provided comparable sales data through an automated portal, and ran a four-week social media campaign targeting buyers who’d searched that postcode on Domain. Sold $185,000 above reserve.

Two streets away, a traditional agency sold a similar property with five registered bidders after a standard newspaper-and-portal campaign. It scraped reserve.

Same suburb. Same weekend. Same property type. The difference was campaign execution and buyer engagement.

VPA Conversations Are Getting Harder

One thing I’m hearing across agencies is that vendor-paid advertising conversations are increasingly difficult. Vendors are pushing back on VPA budgets, partly because interest rate uncertainty has made them nervous about outlays, and partly because they see online-only campaigns as cheaper.

The reality is that well-allocated VPA still pays for itself. But agents need to show data, not just opinions. The best agents I know are pulling PropTrack engagement data from previous campaigns to demonstrate exactly what each dollar delivered in views, enquiries, and registered bidders.

If you can’t show a vendor that their $6,000 VPA spend generated 340 unique property views, 28 enquiries, and 11 registered bidders, you’re going to struggle against the agent next door who says they’ll sell it for half the marketing spend.

What I’m Watching for the Rest of February

Three things will shape how this month finishes:

RBA meeting aftermath. The February rate decision has passed, but how the market digests it over coming weeks will matter. Buyer confidence is fragile, and any hawkish commentary from the Governor could dampen momentum.

Listing volume trajectory. If more vendors come to market in the final two weekends, clearance rates could dip simply due to supply. More choice means less urgency.

The prestige market. Several significant listings in Point Piper and Bellevue Hill are testing the water this month. If they transact well, it signals confidence filtering down. If they stall, expect media coverage that spooks the broader market disproportionately.

What This Means for Vendors Thinking About Selling

If you’re considering listing in the next few weeks, the conditions are reasonable. Not exceptional, not dire. Buyer activity is genuine, rates are more stable than they’ve been in two years, and stock levels haven’t yet reached the point where competition among sellers becomes a drag.

But pricing realism is non-negotiable. The properties passing in this month aren’t passing in because the market’s weak. They’re passing in because the guide was wrong. Every vendor I talk to thinks their place is worth 10% more than comparable sales suggest. That gap between vendor expectation and market reality is the single biggest predictor of auction failure.

Work with an agent who’ll show you the data, not just the dream. In February 2026, the numbers are telling a story worth listening to.

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Linda Powers has 25 years of experience in Sydney residential real estate. She writes about property market trends and the technology reshaping the industry.