May-hem continues across auction markets

RAY WHITE’s auction metrics just got stronger today by every measure. Forget what you thought was a slight softening in activity, as by all accounts Ray White’s innovation real-time data and anecdotes from agents in the field report a strong day with larger than average crowds and 5.5 average registered bidders per property.

The largest property group had 426 auctions booked today and 84 per cent of them cleared under the hammer. Ray White’s preliminary national clearance rate has maintained its hot streak of above 80 per cent since the start of February.

This week only 15 per cent of our Saturday auctions had sold prior, which is trending back to historical averages after it had spiked up as high as 30 per cent recently. Sellers who sold under the hammer were rewarded today with a sale price 12 per cent higher than the highest prior offer once again. This figure has been consistent for some time now.

Albeit with only 26 auctions today in Adelaide, our true believers in the auction method cleared 93 per cent of their sellers' properties under the hammer with a whopping 10 average registered bidders per lot, while Sydney cleared 85 per cent, Melbourne 87 per cent and Brisbane 68 per cent.

Ray White NSW Chief Auctioneer Alex Pattaro said there were no signs of the market slowing down with yet another weekend of strong auction clearance rates and higher auction volume.

“There were reports earlier in the year that higher stock levels may affect their clearance rate. However this weekend's clearance proves anything but. The apartment market continues to shine with agents reporting higher enquiry and buyers at opens for inspections are still in strong numbers. Good family homes in desirable areas are selling well, and family buyers continue to dominate the market,” Mr Pattaro said.

“We're hearing of more buyers venturing further out of Sydney to find their desire behind for prices within their budgets.”

Our top auction sale of the day nationally was conducted by leading agent Daryl Rosen of the prestigious Ray White Double Bay office.

A rare gem like this free-standing dual level bungalow at 66 Francis St, Bondi Beach doesn't come to market very often. This five bedroom two story home with a huge 6.5m deep lock up garage had been tightly owned by its seller Tibor Harsanyi (pictured above with Daryl Rosen) for 25 years. The home sold at auction for $5.3 million.

Mr Rosen said there were four registered bidders who pushed the price up from its opening bid of $4.6 million for the bungalow with a blue-chip address near the world famous beach.

“Demand is strong right now. This house, with a north easterly outlook, sits on the high side of one of Bondi's best streets, ensuring abundant natural light, refreshing ocean breezes and never-to-be-built-out views,” Mr Rosen said.

“Tibor’s over the moon and so are his sons but of course it’s bittersweet to be moving on. There’s a new family moving in who are locals in North Bondi who have been keen on the house since day one of the campaign.”

Retiree Tibor Harsanyi and his late wife raised their three sons at 66 Francis St, ensuring it was “a very happy family home”.

“The location is simply the best, only a few minutes to the beach with uninterrupted views to Vaucluse and the house cannot be built out,” said the seller.

“Over the years we have replaced two of the bathrooms, and even installed a fireplace, which you can’t do nowadays. The garden is of a generous size and easy to care for. It’s a Tuscan style and we put in a hot and cold shower in the garden too so you don’t have to walk sand into the house after a swim or walk along the beach.”

Mr Harsanyi, who used to work in the printing industry, is not moving too far away. he's downsizing into a Bondi Beach apartment in the wake of his wife’s recent passing.

Meanwhile a cutting-edge renovation of this 1911 Federation home by the award-winning Integrated Design Group at 36 Eglinton Rd, Glebe today sold for $3.425 million to local buyers.

Sellers Nick and Sarah Aspros and their family are now moving to the northern beaches and were said to be over the moon with the result. Selling agent Matthew Carvalho of Ray White Surry Hills said the bidding started high at $2.9 million and knocked out half of the 12 registered bidders.

“There has been huge interest in the property. In this area the market is still firing.”

Elsewhere in the inner west, Ray White Petersham Principal Nick Arena also had a cracking day selling two from two under the hammer. This rare ground floor unit in Dulwich Hill at 2/4 Union St today sold for $855,000 to young first home buyers. There were four registered bidders, and three of them were active.

Later, Mr Arena sold 56 Cavendish St, Stanmore for $2.615 million with three registered bidders, and two of them active.

“We’ve had a solid day across the board, with strong numbers at opens and across all types of stock and price points. We have seen no change in the buyer appetite, they are still hungry.”

Up in the Sunshine State, this classic five bedroom home at 17 Wattle St, Ascot - set on a quiet cul-de-sac - today sold for $3.1 million under the hammer of auctioneer Dave Treloar in front of 100 people.

Ray White Ascot agent Damon Warat said the sellers were moving to the coast to have a sea-change next.

"The buyers are locals and they fell in love with the house, it's a beautiful Queenslander," he said. There were six registered bidders keen on the prestigious address.

Meanwhile in West End, some 32 registered bidders turned up all intent on buying 46 Jane St in Brisbane. This rundown investment property on 450sqm today sold for a whopping $1.56 million

Ray White Wilston agent Holly Bowden ran a textbook auction campaign and refused all offers prior and advised her clients to be patient and test the market on game day. Her strategy paid off.

Ms Bowden received 10 pre-registrations by last night but they were still flooding in on her email up to 10pm for the cottage in need of repair with no driveway, no garage and broken stumps.

“We held the auction with 80 people in the front yard, which is small and there was good participation from at least 16 of the 32 bidders. It was a fast auction, it started at $1 million, which was above reserve and it kept going. The winning bidder didn’t make one bid until the auctioneer Phil Parker announced they were playing for keeps at $1.42 million which inspired another rush of bids up to $1.56 million.”

The buyers were a young couple and the sellers had owned the property since 1960.

Elsewhere, in front of 200 people in the crowd, Ray White Wilston principal Alistair Macmillan sold his own family home at 70 Hawdon St, Wilston today for $3.321 million.

There were 18 registered bidders and veteran auctioneer Phil Parker took an opening of $2.4 million and then a buyer’s agent dropped a bid in of $2.9 million which knocked out all but one other bidder. The eventual buyer sealed the deal with a bid of $3.321 million.

“The buyers recently sold in New Farm and they have been renting in Windsor. She and her sister had been out walking when she said to her sister ‘I love that house I'd love to own it’ and two weeks later we put up a signboard and we're on the market. The rest is history.”

The house was marketed by Ray White Wilston agent Sam Hagen who had been inundated at OFIs after more than 250 buyers inspected the stunning five bedroom home.

Similar scenes were played on Brisbane’s southside after 220 groups inspected the three bedroom house at 19 Ferndale St, Annerley including several interstate buyers.

Ray White Annerley Principal Geoff Sellers said some 32 registered bidders turned out to bid and buy the stylish Queenslander.

“Thankfully I had 17 bidders pre-registered before the auction. There was an opening bid of $790,000, and it quickly moved up. We had a lot of phone bidders and both the buyers and underbidders were from Sydney and Melbourne,” Mr Sellars said. The buyers are moving to Brisbane from Melbourne. The New Zealand-based seller was delighted with the sale price of $1.015 million.

“This was the first real push from interstate buyers that I have seen in a while. It’s been nicely presented and on a good street and there was a huge crowd watching.”

Ray White South Australia Chief Auctioneer John Morris said there was plenty of action at Adelaide's auctions this week.

“Yet again we have high clearance numbers and high bidder registration. Some 80 per cent of all our auctions sold at or above reserve which is just fantastic. The numbers during the midweek auctions are 6.7 registered bidders and 4.3 of those were active with a 91 per cent clearance rate. This Saturday so far, it’s looking pretty much the same,” Mr Morris said.

“On average today I've had 13 registered bidders per auction and so far I am on track for a 100 per cent clearance rate day. Let's hope this continues as there’s fantastic strength in the market.”

Ray White Norwood agent Linda Clemente today sold 47 Alexander Ave, Campbelltown (pictured above) for $791,000 and it was a very special house as it was owned by her grandparents.

On what would have been her late grandfather’s 100th birthday, and in front of the whole family, Ms Clemente sold the elegant house to a proxy bidder whose niece purchased it for her parents who are in Canada and who plan to spend half the year in Adelaide to be closer to family.

“It was my grandparents’ property and we had 17 registered bidders. We had a tempting offer of $688,000 prior to the auction but we proceeded to game day and were rewarded with a good sale. Auction is the only way to sell,” she said.

“I knew every single one of the buyers who turned up so there were lots of hugs all around and everyone was happy with the result.

“I have sold seven homes in the last fortnight so the market is still humming along,” said the agent, who was a music teacher up until only 15 months ago.

“I was a head of music at a high school and I had spent 12 years in the classroom and gigging around Adelaide before I started as an agent. It was daunting at first but I haven’t looked back. Best decision ever. If you keep your clients at the heart of every transaction, you cannot go wrong.”

Meanwhile Ray White Norwood agent Stefan Siciliano today broke the suburb record in Greenacres for a sub-divided block with the $840,000 sale of 45 Redward Ave, Greenacres.

“It was nuts, I haven't seen anything like it. Literally half the neighbourhood came out. The property sold for $840,000 and it’s on a subdivided block sdo the land was only 403sqm. We had 17 registered bidders and they were all locals upsizing in the suburb, or from the north east. The new buyers are locals with a growing family.”

He later backed it up with the sale of 29 Second Ave, Payneham South for $840,000.

The highest number of registered bidders was 33 bidders who were vying for 33 Kipling Ave, Glengowrie, SA which was sold by Ray White Glenelg's Rod Smitheram for $890,000 in front of a crowd of 200 people.

Ray White Victoria Chief Auctioneer Matt Condon (pictured) said all eyes were on Victoria's real estate market today to see how it would perform with the significant increase in auction volume this weekend.

“It is great to be able to report that this increase in volume was met with equal demand from buyers, based on preliminary data from the Ray White Group we saw a strong average registered and active bidders across all auctions on the ground,” he said.

“The exceptional weather brought out big crowds in force, creating an exciting and competitive atmosphere at auctions.

“Buyers were bidding competitively and strategically to secure their desired property even once properties were announced on the market and selling, we continued to see competition past that point.”

The most active auction in the state was at 2 Settlers Court, Rowville which sold for $1 million after Ray White Rowville selling agent David Armstrong signed up 20 buyers to bid.

In front of a crowd of 150 people, the hybrid online/onsite auction was hotly contested by a range of different buyers including several from interstate.

“There were a lot of interested first home buyers, young families and some downsizers who all like that it’s been renovated and doesn’t need any extra work,” Mr Armstrong said.

“It’s a turn key house, the successful buyers can walk straight in and start living their lives.”

The bidding kicked off at $640,000 and it was called on the market by auctioneer Andrew Freeman at $820,000. The sellers are moving to Berwick to be closer to their children’s school.