Landmark sales in Cameron Park and Maryville headlined a return to form for auctions in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie.
After the clearance rate fell to just 46.2 per cent last week - easily the lowest recorded in the region this year - numbers picked up in the week to May 8 as CoreLogic recorded a 70.8 per cent clearance rate.
The figure was above the national average for capital cities, but still well below the numbers seen during the peak of the property boom late last year.
Belle Property Lake Macquarie's Sam Taylor said lower clearance rates were not necessarily due to a lack of buyers in the market.
Rather, he believed the slump was the result of price guides catching up with a cooler market.
"What people forget is that the clearance rate might be down, but that's because all the price guides are at the top of the market - we're actually appraising properties based on sales that were [from] the top of the market," Mr Taylor said.
"Twelve months ago we were appraising properties for what we thought they were worth and then they'd sell $50,000 over because five weeks later that's what they'd be worth."
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There was no shortage of interest in Saturday's auction of a Cameron Park family home that sold for a record $1.49 million.
The five-bedroom, 1178 square metre property at 226 Northlakes Drive sold to locals for a price that crunched both its $1.3 million guide and the previous $1.31 million suburb benchmark.
The property also had interest from out-of-area buyers, and attracted several pre-auction offers.
It last sold for $625,000 in 2016.
"It offered rural attributes in a suburban setting," Mr Taylor said.
"It was a home that regardless of market conditions would always sell well."
In Maryville, a partially-renovated two-bedroom home on a 291 square metre corner block sold for a huge $998,000.
Nine bidders registered for the sale of 2B The Avenue, which had an auction guide of $800,000 to $880,000.
First National Newcastle City's George Rafty said the home had Islington Park virtually on its doorstep, which was a great attraction for buyers.
"We thought it might have been at best early [$900,000s], so the price was driven by competition at the auction," he said.
"I was a great result, the buyers are happy and the owners are over the moon."
The home had never previously changed hands, and had been built by the seller's grandfather about 60 years ago.
In Cooks Hill, a stylishly renovated worker's cottage also sold well over its price guide, $990,000, at auction.
The two-bedroomer at 56 Laman Street attracting a handful of bidders to sell for $1.25 million with First National Newcastle City's Mathew and Brooke Iuliano.
