The property market continued to show signs of recovery at the weekend, with comparatively healthy auction clearance rates and turnover.

The clearance rate in Sydney was 69%, well up on the 48 per cent for the same time last year, said Australian Property Monitors.

More than $77 million worth of property changed hands, the top sale being a three-bedroom house at Cronulla, in the city's southeast, going for $2.75m.

In Melbourne, a clearance rate of 72% was a hefty 20 percentage points better than last year's result. The most expensive was a three-bedroom townhouse in Brighton East, which sold for $1.25m.

Brisbane's clearance rate of 45% also represented a significant improvement on last year's 23 per cent, while Adelaide's clearance rate was 66 per cent, up from 39% on the corresponding weekend in 2008.

Kevin Lee, of Smartline mortgages, said the improved clearance rates were a sign of first-home buyer activity and reaction to the government's continuation of the first-home buyers grant.

The Australian