Singaporean businessman CK Ow offloaded his Vaucluse home at the weekend for a reputed $67 million, concluding an eight-weekend expressions of interest marketing campaign.

The property’s unconfirmed price fell short of the businessman’s ambitions of setting a $71-million-plus Sydney record which was paid earlier this year in Double Bay by local tech billionaire Scott Farquhar for John B Fairfax family’s Elaine beachfront estate.

Described as a palatial waterfront property, it boasts six bedrooms, six bathrooms, tennis court, jetty/boat shed and a sprawling pool.

The buyer of the Phoenix Acres estate at Vaucluse was described as a “local family”.

The six-bedroom property fell short of the $71 million record set earlier this year. Photo: Ray White

A local family is said to have bought the Vaucluse home. Photo: Ray White

Weekend auction volumes decreased across the capital cities as the extended Christmas break nears.

There are just a handful of auctions scheduled for next Saturday, December 23.

The penultimate pre-Christmas auction weekend saw a preliminary national auction clearance rate of 64.2 per cent, according to CoreLogic.

The rush of vendors who hopefully thought that buyers needed to buy something before the end of the year and were willing to pay ‘anything’ were increasingly mistaken, as the market changed gears from the intensity of early 2017.

Sydney, especially, looks set to finish the year with an auction clearance rate in the 50s, and even dipping into the high 40s in some regions.

The number of homes taken to auction nationally fell to 2865 auctions, down on the prior weekend’s 3371 auctions.

The nation’s top auction offering was in Melbourne’s Brighton with a four-bedroom house at 12 Cole Street but which was passed in on a $5.5 million vendor bid.

It has now been listed with $5.95 million-plus hopes.

The contemporary Steve Domoney Architecture-designed home hugged a Zen-inspired courtyard garden and pool. The home came with a two-room Gaggenau kitchen, and a four-room parents’ wing.

The nation’s top auction offering passed in on a $5.5 million vendor bid. Photo: Marshall White

The four-bedroom home hugs a Zen-inspired courtyard garden and tiled pool. Photo: Marshall White

Melbourne’s highest sale was $3.825 million in Carlton.

The four-bedroom, one-bathroom terrace at 173 Drummond Street had been listed with $3 million to $3.3 million hopes. It last sold in 1983 at $165,000, and before that slightly higher in 1982 at $179,000 before the full effect of Australia’s second-last recession was felt.

Melbourne, Australia’s largest auction market, finished the year off with an auction clearance rate of 67.3 per cent across its 1628 weekend auctions in a last-minute rush to auction.

This time last year, 1288 properties were taken to auction across Melbourne and a clearance rate of 73.9 per cent was recorded, CoreLogic auction analyst Kevin Brogan noted.

The four-bedroom, one-bathroom Carlton terrace was listed for between $3 and $3.3 million. Photo: Woodards

Mosman had Sydney’s highest weekend auction outcome when 8 Cobbittee Street fetched $3.57 million pre-auction.

It was offered for the first time in 93 years.

Sydney’s preliminary clearance rate was 60.8 per cent across 690 auctions. Over the same week one year ago, 878 auctions were held across Sydney and a clearance rate of 71.4 per cent was recorded.

Slacks Creek, south of Brisbane, had the nation’s cheapest weekend house sale.

The two-bedroom 44 Atkinson Street home on 600 square metres fetched $285,000 through Ray White.

It had sold at $267,000 in 2010.

There were 196 Brisbane weekend auctions with a clearance rate of 54.8 per cent, compared to a year ago when there were 234 auctions with a success rate of 42.6 per cent.

Adelaide finished the auction year with the strongest weekend clearance rate of the capital cities, at 70.1 per cent, with 107 reported results across a total of 152 scheduled auctions, increasing on last weekend’s 65.2 per cent and the 58.4 per cent one year ago.

Adelaide’s results included a three-bedroom home at 3 Veronica Crescent, Lockleys sold at $581,000, exceeding what it had been tipped by Belle Property to sell between $490,000 and $530,000.

But a three-bedroom house at 68 Wheaton Street, South Plympton sold prior for $586,000, fell short of its price guidance which was $599,000 to $649,000.

Jonathan Chancellor is editor at large at Property Observer.