Melbourne clearance rate more than doubles during lockdown

Ray White Gladstone Park Director/Auctioneer Malek Younan calling the online auction of 5 Lockerbie Court in Greenvale.

DESPITE doom and gloom predictions for Melbourne's property market, data released today by Australasia’s largest real estate agency painted a very different picture, particularly with online auctions.

“Week two clearance rates in Melbourne’s most recent lockdown period compared to March’s lockdown are significantly greater, sitting at 61 per cent, with substantially higher auction volumes. This is a more than doubling of our auction day clearance rate,” said Ray White Victoria and Tasmania CEO Stephen Dullens (below).

“Our average number of registered bidders have almost doubled to 5.7 per auction and our active bidders on average have leapt from 1.2 to 3.0. This shows a vast difference between this round of restrictions compared to stage three lockdowns earlier this year.

“All the speculation is around properties being withdrawn from the market and that’s simply not what we’re seeing. Only two properties were withdrawn from the market last week.

“This is testament to the outstanding work of our members and their steadfast belief in having auctions as the method of sale.

“The Ray White Group has always been at the forefront of innovation and buyers are really embracing the online auction process. We’ve called well over 500 online auctions across Victoria since restrictions started back in March.”

The perfect example of this success came recently in Greenvale where Ray White Gladstone Park conducted their first ever online auction and achieved an astonishing result as 5 Lockerbie Court (below) sold for $871,000 - $101,000 over reserve.

A massive 19 bidders registered for the five-bedroom property and Ray White Gladstone Park Director/Auctioneer Malek Younan said the price smashed the vendor’s expectations.

“During the first lockdown, we were selling our properties incredibly quickly via private sale, but we decided to make ourselves match-fit in the online auction world in case it was needed again – and we’re very pleased we took that approach,” Mr Younan said.

“I’ve always been an auction-driven agent and we’ve managed to hone a process that works for both buyers and sellers.

“Our vendors were happy to proceed based on the evidence we supplied. It’s fantastic to be able to provide our customers with multiple options to produce the best possible results.

“We had 70 inspections during the campaign and four of the 19 registered bidders actively competed. The first bid was tens of thousands over the reserve, so we knew it would be special.

“We feel auction is a great way to sell property in any market - it results in total transparency for buyers - and creates competition for the property.

“This sale is a perfect example of that – I honestly believe we wouldn’t have bettered the result before the pandemic, a sign of the resilience of the Melbourne property market.

“There’s absolutely no doubt it’s a seller’s market right now with demand for property very much outstripping the supply.

“There is less property on the market than this time last year, but prospective buyer numbers have increased. Our last 100 sales have only been on the market for 29 days, on average.”