Sydney’s hot property market looks to be losing its sizzle, with another weekend of falling clearance rates and industry insiders reporting fewer bidders and less bullish prices at auctions.

But there were still some big results among the 816 homes put under the hammer on Saturday, and long lines of buyers queueing for off-the-plan sales of new apartments.

By Saturday evening Domain Group had collected 646 results and put the auction clearance rate at 73.7 per cent, the lowest weekend clearance rate of the year.

Domain Group’s senior economist Andrew Wilson said the city’s auction market had recorded clearance rates below 80 per cent for the past six weekends and the trend was tracking towards 70 per cent.

“The super-heated energy of the market looks to have past and that’s better news for buyers,” Dr Wilson said.

At Annandale the auction of a two-bedroom house on Collins Street only attracted two bidders and the $980,000 sale price was less than the sellers were expecting. It sold to a first-home buyer.

“We are happy with today, but maybe we did hope it would go to $1 million – I certainly would have expected that seven months ago, so perhaps the market might be slightly coming off,” said one of the owners, Peter, who declined to give his surname.

The agent Simone Azzi, of Belle Property Annandale, said the number of buyers turning up at auctions was less than in recent weeks.

“We did expect four to register to bid today, but yes the market at the moment is changing a little,” she said.

Elsewhere in the inner west one auctioneer had three auctions cancelled because sellers with high price hopes had kept buyers away.

“An inner west client just withdrew three of my auctions today due to no buyers and over-zealous vendors. The odds are against me already,” tweeted Ricky Briggs, of Briggs Auction Services on Saturday morning. But his day did improve, selling one house in Leichhardt and several Annandale, including the Collins Street house and another at 222 Annandale Street for $2.21 million, which was more than $200,000 above reserve.

Another inner west agent Simon Pilcher, of Pilcher Residential, told Domain: “We’re still seeing pretty strong results but they’re being achieved with fewer buyers competing than we had four to six weeks ago.”

The highest price paid at auction on Saturday was $5.1 million for five-bedroom house on Wallaroy Road, Woollahra, through McGrath agent Ben Collier.

One of the strongest auction results on Saturday was for a three-bedroom apartment in Coogee with uninterrupted views of the beach and Wedding Cake Island. The unrenovated unit on Baden Street, which backs on to the beachfront reserve, fetched $2.24 million – $440,000 above its reserve.

Agent Doreen Wilson, of Phillips Pantzer Donnelley, said it was bought by a local investor who could expect to get up to $900 a week rent in its present state.

In Ryde 45 groups registered to bid for a weatherboard house in Ronald Avenue that had been in the same family for nearly half a century. Agent Kate Seehusen of NNW Property had initially been quoting more than $1 million, but furious bidding at the auction pushed the price $425,000 above the owner’s reserve, to $1,725,000.

There were only three bidders for a nearby four-bedroom house in Grandview Parade, Epping, but those who raised their bidding cards pushed the price to $2.92 million.

Agent Wayne Vaughan, of McGrath Epping, said the buyers of the 1220-square-metre property were an inner west family and the price was the second-highest paid for a house in Epping with no development potential.

Nevertheless Mr Vaughan said he had seen a change at auctions over the past few weekends as more and more homes were put up for sale.

“Bids are a little harder to get now,” he said. “Buyers are starting to see that there’s more choice.”

In Concord a modern, five-bedroom house at 41 Kingston Avenue sold for $3.35 million at auction. Selling agent Roger Agha, of Devine Real Estate, said the house on almost 700 square metres, sold for $150,000 more than the reserve – a record for the suburb – to a family from Strathfield. All the 10 registered bidders were from the inner west.

“Concord is still a very buoyant market,” Mr Agha said.

A crowd of about 300 buyers queued on Saturday morning to snag a unit in the Infinity by Crown development at Green Square. Developer Crown Group released all 326 apartments for sale on the day, and by the afternoon had sold about $350 million worth of apartments.