Auction market stays hot on winter's long weekend

BIDDERS have defied the colder weather and the long weekend across multiple states as a string of exceptional results highlighted the time was now to market and sell your property.

Ray White Group booked a preliminary clearance rate of 58.2 per cent on a week when the leading auction house had a 35.7 per cent market share of all auctions across the country.

The stand-out of the day was Sydney, as the city enjoyed a preliminary clearance rate of 70.6 per cent, with an average of 5.1 registered and three active bidders per auction.

Ray White Managing Director Dan White said vendors that were considering selling should take today's sales as a barometer of just how deep the buyer pool was at the moment.

"There's no doubt increasing vendor confidence is resulting in a closing of the gap in terms of the number of scheduled auctions when compared to last year," Mr White said.

"We continue to see a record average number of bidders per property, and not surprisingly, we've seen the auction campaign clearance rate for the past week remain firm at 54 per cent."

Ray White NSW Chief Auctioneer Alex Pattaro said it was another strong auction week in Sydney that continued to defy negative property speculation.

“We’re seeing a clear indication of the strength in the market. We’re seeing strong prices and suburb records being broken across all parts of Sydney,” Mr Pattaro said.

“Buyer sentiment and confidence remains red-hot and we saw energetic socially-distanced crowds across many auctions today, with an average of five registered bidders per auction.”

It was Sydney that played host to the day’s preliminary biggest sale as Ray White Surry Hills Director Shaun Stoker and Sales Executive Moira Verheijen successfully managed the $2,640,000 sale of 13 Pleasant Avenue in Erskineville (above) - a massive $340,000 over reserve.

“We had a huge 187 people through during the campaign and we decided to bring the auction forward a week because of the extraordinary amount of interest we had,” Mr Stoker said.

“There’s no doubt the time to be selling is now - the property market is very much alive and kicking. We had 10 registered buyers today and the six active bidders competed vigorously.

“To have that many people through during a campaign is exceptional in any market - Pleasant Avenue is one of the top three inner-city streets - and the registered bidders knew it.

“Interestingly, the last three bidders were all looking to upsize from within the local area, and the winning bidders were a young local couple, living just around the corner.”

It was then a case of double delight for Ray White Upper North Shore Director David Walker, who orchestrated two outstanding results in the space of just three hours.

Mr Walker, along with Sales Agent Coco Cui Roskam, sold 68 Richmond Avenue in St Ives (above) for $1,687,000 - $87,000 over reserve. Then, with Sales Associate Belinda Edwards, he went on to sell 189 Kissing Point Road (below) in Turramurra for $1,510,000 - $110,000 over reserve.

“We had 10 registered bidders across the two properties, seven of whom were active, so that gives you an idea of the competition for properties in the market right now,” Mr Walker said.

“Our buyer pool is so deep - we had eight finance-ready buyers walk away without a property today - people should be thinking about listing now to take advantage of this.

“Between the two properties, we had 180 people through the open homes, so people’s love affair with property has certainly been reignited - the energy has been exceptional.

“For Richmond Avenue you felt like you had no neighbours at all and for Kissing Point Road, it’s almost fitting that so many fell in love with this property, bidding ran away as soon as it was called on the market. There’s no doubt the time to sell is now.”

The success then continued for Ray White North Ryde Sales Agent Ben Boutros and Principal David Jarvis, who orchestrated the $1,560,000 sale of 13 Pacey Avenue (below).

“This was a great auction with all four registered bidders competing against each other and both the buyer and the seller are over the moon with the result,” Mr Boutros said.

“The property sold $60,000 over the reserve price and $110,000 over the highest offer prior to the auction - so selling under the hammer really does pay dividends.

“The market has been pretty good in our area, we're still getting really good numbers coming through the door at open homes, and we've sold quite a few properties since COVID-19 began.

“The outlook is generally very positive around the Ryde and North Ryde area and vendors that are considering selling should use this deal as a barometer of the confidence in the market.”

“I’m very excited and delighted with the result,” said purchaser Susan.

“I moved from Roseville and I’m planning to establish myself in North Ryde. I love the property because of the land size.

“My plan is to create a sustainable living-style home, like an urban farm. It’s my dream to have everything organic, and grow everything myself, have chickens etc. and live the low footprint lifestyle. This is the perfect house for me to do this.”

Then in Wentworthville, Ray White Parramatta Associate Director and Sales Executive Amit Nayak and Sales Executive Ritesh Nayak successfully orchestrated the $1,710,000 sale of 52 Dorothy Street (below) - a property that attracted a whopping 26 registered bidders.

“It was a great campaign and we obviously had huge interest in this property," Mr Amit Nayak said.

“We had more than 225 groups coming to view the property in the lead up to the auction and we had 26 bidders on the day.

“We had hundreds and hundreds of enquiries on this property, and we're finding the same sort of numbers with all of our properties at the moment.

“Especially with houses - units are a little bit slower - but houses are really strong right now,”

That deal was then followed by yet another success for Ray White NSW Chief Auctioneer Alex Pattaro (below).

It was Ray White Brighton-Le-Sands I Ramsgate Beach Principals Peter Tsekenis and Elia Economou who managed the $1,575,000 sale of 1/10 Kings Road in Brighton-Le-Sands.

"We had two competing bidders at the auction after having 43 groups through the opens and both parties are really happy with the outcome," Mr Tsekenis said.

"We've had a big increase in buyer activity. We're seeing good numbers through our open homes and we're achieving prices that are exceeding expectations."

Ray White Victoria and Tasmania Chief Auctioneer Matt Condon said next week was set to be one of the biggest weeks of scheduled auctions in the last 10 weeks.

“We’ve seen an increase in the number of properties sold prior to going under the hammer, as well a healthy number of registered and active bidders across our auctions,” Mr Condon said.

“It’s great to see a high level of confidence in our real estate market and this is evidenced by competitive bidding and properties selling above their reserve price.”

The preliminary highest sale of the day for Victoria came at the hands of Ray White Mount Waverley Area Managers Jay Warnak and Zachary Zhang, who sold 20 Moona Street (below) in Burwood East for $1,061,000 - $21,000 over the reserve price.

“This was a cracking auction as we had 13 registered bidders from all over the country - the under-bidder is from Perth, such was the interest in this property,” Mr Warnak said.

“Auction is undoubtedly the way to go at the moment. A similar home on a similar land size recently sold just around the corner for $960,000 via private treaty - so that shows you the value of competition.

“We converted a third of our inspection numbers into bidders on the day so we’re finding people now viewing properties are more skewed towards people who genuinely want to buy.

“The young family who bought the property were actually under-bidders from a property I sold four weeks ago - so people who miss out once are definitely staying active in the market.”

Success was followed by Ray White Blackburn Director Peter Schenck and Sales Executive Trista Lee, who sold 25 Loraine Avenue in Box Hill North (above) for $1,060,000 - $60,000 over reserve.

"We were acting for a family as it was an estate sale. It was a five-bedroom original 1950's weatherboard home," Mr Schenck said.

"The couple that bought it have five children all under the age of 12 and are going to keep the house. The under-bidder was actually a developer who was going to knock it over.

"I have to say that everything is back. We have interest from vendors pretty much everywhere - everyone is a little cautious as our demographic is mainly empty-nesters and older people - but I would anticipate that we'll have strong bidding over the next couple of weeks."

"I think it's a fantastic result for this home - everyone is happy. The buyer wanted it a bit cheaper obviously, but they're happy and the sellers are thrilled," Mr Vlahos said.

"I believe there are some very serious buyers out there - you just need to make them understand the value of the home. Vendors have also adjusted themselves - they've all found a happy medium.

"We're there to create the competition for our vendors. I think the good results are due to the agents working really hard behind the scenes.

"Through our Ray White training, with all the new dialog, vendors are really listening to what the market is saying and it's as strong as ever."

The success continued as Ray White Burwood Partner Winston Wei and Sales Executive Kimi Meng successfully sold 3/10 Newbigin Street (above) in Burwood for $886,500.

“At this stage, the prices of family homes have not been affected. We have plenty of active buyers looking for homes right now,” Mr Wei said.

“Investments and development style properties are a little less popular, but family homes are very successful, and remain very stable.

“The sellers are very happy. What made it even sweeter is that it was the little boy's birthday - so it's a big present for him.

“The buyers are a family from Asia and they're very happy with their new home - as agents, we love making dreams come true.”

Ray White QLD Chief Auctioneer Mitch Peereboom said there was a huge amount of activity across the Sunshine State this week.

“Across our auctions, we had 4.1 registered bidders on average and we represented 66 per cent auction market share in Brisbane alone,” Mr Peereboom said.

“We’ve seen competitive bidding but we also saw buyers able to compete in a transparent unconditional environment - the strength of this marketplace is so much on show at auction.”

The preliminary biggest sale was on the Sunshine Coast where Ray White Maroochydore Sales and Marketing Consultant Niall Molloy sold 10 Cooba Close (above) in Buderim for $856,000.

“Properties that were always popular are still popular, we're very lucky that the Sunshine Coast is a place where people really want to live,” Mr Molloy said.

“The area is just great for all sorts of demographics, first home buyers, downsizers, young families, and the prices offer value to a broad range of buyers

“We conducted as many open homes last weekend than the weekends prior to COVID-19.”

“We're very happy with our new home - the view is stunning and the agent Niall is an absolute gem,” purchasers Georgie and Chris said.

“They got a great price for the sellers. Of course, we would've liked to pay a little less, but the house is absolutely worth it. It comes down to what you're prepared to pay and we really had our heart set on this one.”

That success was followed by Ray White Albion Principal David Treloar, who managed the $770,000 sale of 12 Argyle Street in Red Hill.

“The vendors are thrilled and the buyer is delighted. If your house is in a great suburb then you’ll get buyers for sure - this a great example of that,” Mr Treloar said.

“The winning bidder was an expat Aussie who's living in New York and was looking for an investment property in Brisbane. He was bidding on the phone, with his parents in attendance at the auction.

“The home needs a lot of work and he's planning on renovating and updating the home and then he will get some tenants in.

“There's no question around the market being hot right now - I haven’t noticed any setback on prices and that's due to lack of stock. It's a great time to sell at the moment.”

The hat-trick of Queensland successes was completed by Ray White Noosa River Principal and Auctioneer Justin Sykes, who sold 12 Nelson Road (above) in Gympie for $335,000.

“The buyers were an elderly couple that haven't retired and were looking to downsize, they're macadamia farmers from Long Flat, a farming town just outside of Gympie,” Mr Sykes said.

“Geoff is 97 years of age and still works on his farm seven days a week. They said it's probably time to downsize. Geoff and Ursula are the most beautiful, lovely people, so we're very happy for them and their new home.

“It was a fantastic online auction. The under-bidder who was also a lovely person, typed into the google chat 'Congratulations!' when Geoff and Urusula won.

“It was a great campaign - I said I wanted a full comprehensive marketing campaign with print media and the like - we had so many people coming through the open homes

“The buyers’ son actually saw the property in our window and mentioned it to them and they had already seen it in the Gympie Times local paper.”

Ray White SA Chief Auctioneer John Morris celebrated a 100 per cent auction day clearance rate across the South Australian market today.

“Of the 18 auctions held across South Australia this week, we dominated yet again, with just under 65 per cent of auctions listed,” Mr Morris said.

“We continue to hold the top spot until the end of the financial year as we currently have 39 per cent of auctions under our yellow banner - but there are plenty more to come to market.”

The top South Australian sale of the day belonged to Ray White Glenelg I Plympton Principal Adam Keane and Sales Consultant/Auctioneer Rod Smitheram who sold 11 Cummins Street in Novar Gardens (above) for $635,000.

“The energy during the campaign for this one was excellent - the first week in particular we had a huge amount of people through the property,” Mr Keane said.

“The price feedback we were getting was in the mid-$500,000’s so it was a really good result for what was essentially just the value of the land, rather than the property.

“The demand far outweighs the supply of property at the moment and there’s no doubt it’s a seller’s market - vendors should seriously consider listing their property now.”

The day was rounded off as Ray White Norwood Sales Executives Stefan Siciliano and Trent Dudley sold 55 Tasman Avenue (above) in Gilles Plains for $375,000.

Three registered and active bidders competed, with the hammer eventually falling to complete a 100 per cent clearance rate day for Ray White South Australia.