Ray White Norwood auctions smash $4.5M in one night

AT 10.30am yesterday morning, Ray White Norwood had seven auctions scheduled for the coming weekends, less than 12 hours later six of them had sold under the hammer for a whopping $4,509,500 after they were all brought forward.

“It was a sensational effort on behalf of the entire Norwood team - they pretty much pulled off the impossible in moving so many on-site auctions forward in the space of just half a day,” said Ray White SA Chief Auctioneer John Morris.

“What’s even more incredible is the fact across the seven auctions we had more than 45 registered bidders competing. That tells us there are still numerous buyers out there who are finance-ready and actively looking to buy property.

“We’re moving into a ‘new normal’ but this can certainly be a positive thing. The Ray White Norwood team lives and breathes innovation and together, we’ll embrace technology, whether that be phone bidding or via online platforms like Auction Now or GAVL.

“The key message here is that this is by no means the end of auctions. In actual fact, it’s just bringing the future generation of auctioneering forward to 2020. Buyers and sellers can be confident that auction is still the best method of sale in any climate.”

The biggest sale of the night belonged to Ray White Norwood Sales Executive Brandon Pilgrim, who successfully orchestrated the $1,656,000 sale of 13 Davenport Terrace (pictured above), in Hazelwood Park.

But it was the Ray White Norwood team of Stefan Siciliano and Trent Dudley who were leading the charge with four properties - that included a character home, a strata property, a development site and a small home perfect for first-time buyers.

"At 10.30am, it was literally like a war room. Because of impending Government restrictions we decided to bring all of our weekend auctions forward in the space of 12 hours, with an on-site every hour starting from 5pm," Mr Siciliano said.

"The phones were literally glued to our ears and I have to say our vendors were incredibly supportive of our decision to move the auctions.

"Then it was about getting the interested parties there on the night, and we actually averaged eight registered bidders across our four auctions.

"Our biggest success of the night was at 3A Oxford Street (above) in Hackney where we had 12 registered bidders - two online and 10 in person - and that sold for a terrific price of $831,000.

"But arguably our highlight was in the pitch black at 51 Cadell Street in Windsor Gardens - knowing that 12 hours after we'd begun - we were still able to sell this one for $505,000.

"We also sold 4/33A Fuller Street in Walkerville for $650,000 and 63 Branson Avenue in Clearview for $457,000 - that one also had a huge 10 registered bidders.

"We're excited about this 'new normal' next phase and we'll be holding a number of private inspections and private auctions going forward.

"We as an office believe in auction as the method of sale and we'll continue to advocate that fact to our vendors."

And to complete what was in many ways a day of firsts, Ray White Norwood’s Zachary McKee sold his first ever property via auction, a campaign he’s unlikely to ever forget.

"It was a big decision to take the risk of bringing the auction for 185 Shepherdson Road (above) in Parafield Gardens forward in such a short space of time, but our vendor had trust and confidence in us enough to do the right thing,” Mr McKee said.

"We knew from the interest we’d had in the property that it was in the best interest of our vendor to bring the auction forward.

"And in the end, our decision was justified, as the property sold for $505,000 - well over our vendor’s expectations."