Selling season kicks off with a bang

Spring selling season kicked off strongly with robust demand from buyers continuing across all markets today.

The Ray White Group, which accounted for 32 per cent of all auction volume this week, today cleared 71.9 per cent of its auctions stock today with many auctions attracting huge numbers of bidders.

The leading auction house recorded 5.3 registered bidders across every lot in Australia today.

Over the week the group booked 396 auctions (+9.4 per cent year on year) across Australia.

Ray White NSW Chief Auctioneer Alex Pattaro said the market showed no sign of slowing down.

“Today was a great way to launch into spring. On average, we had six registered bidders in Sydney, with three of them raising their hands to bid actively,” Mr Pattaro said.

“Just 13 per cent of this week’s scheduled auctions converted to private treaty which is a clear indication there is plenty of activity in the market.

“Some 95 per cent of conducted auctions had active bidding, which again suggests strong activity.

“It was an impressive week to round out the winter months. We saw consistent data across all metrics for NSW, laying a strong foundation for the spring and summer months to come.”

The standout auction of the day was in Sydney where Ray White Gladesville Sales Executive Joseph Mazer today signed up a whopping 35 registered bidders all vying for 25 Regent St, Putney which sold under the hammer for $2,810,000.

“It was a large crowd and all the buyers were locals from the eastern suburbs, western suburbs and other parts of Sydney,” Mr Mazar said.

“It had it all, a great address, a great location and a great agent. The buyers are a local family and they are going to move in and make it a family home, whie the vendor is in aged care.

“To be honest, 35 registered bidders is the highest number I have had at an auction in my career. The market is very active.”

Meanwhile in Earlwood, this tightly held, three bedroom cottage at 92 Permanent Ave, Earlwood attracted eight registered bidders and sold for $1.291 under the hammer.

Ray White Belmore Selling Principal Dean Vasil said the Earlwood home presented the perfect opportunity for buyers wanting to enter the tightly held, blue ribbon suburb.

"We saw an abundance of buyers coming from the inner west. They see value in Earlwood and many fall in love with its cultural diversity and lifestyle," Mr Vasil said.

“Although in original condition, it’s been maintained very well like a time capsule of sorts and certainly represents fantastic value, the potential is endless."

Offered for the very first time in almost 65 years, the auction kicked off at $1 million and sailed past its reserve of $1.2 million.

The owner has moved into aged care and one of her sons, Simon, said he was thrilled with the result and the auction process.

“We are very happy with Dean and the whole team for how they ran the campaign. It’s a sentimental sale as mum and dad built the house some 65 years ago,” Simon said.

“Today proved that the auctions work and there’s a lot of buyers active in this market.”

“This is where I grew up and it’s always been a popular suburb.”

Out in western Sydney, the last remaining block off Mr Parr's chicken farm at Bossley Park sold at auction today for $1.140 million to a developer who plans to move in and split the block. The result was $240,000 over its reserve and the sellers are ecstatic.

On the high side of the road at 61 Restwell Rd, Ray White Wetherill Park Selling Principal Marcus Biasetto said the property overlooked the training grounds of The Marconi Club in a very prominent position.

“We had a protracted six weeks campaign due to a death in the seller’s family and the property attracted very strong interest. We issued 55 contracts and on the day 26 buyers registered,” Mr Biasetto said.

“There’s such a huge amount of people who want to buy. This property ticked all the boxes - it’s rare, in good condition and it feels accessible and that’s what everyone wants.

“There’s quite literally a huge amount of demand for a limited amount of stock.”

Ray White Auctioneer James Kerley said the site attracted a lot of developers for its opportunity and 20m frontage.

“The ability to subdivide this block was attractive and there was also the nostalgia factor there too, as the property is a part of Bossley Park history. We had two big developers phone in their bids but they were outbid by the competition on the floor.”

As Victoria moves closer to what is expected to be the easing of restrictions in two weeks as health news continues to improve, buyers remain out in force.

A lack of listings and auctions mean those available are attracting virtual crowds, with buyers undeterred by Stage 4 and Stage 3 restrictions.

With volume of auctions lower than what we would typically see at this time of year, vendors who chose to run their campaign to auction were on average well rewarded, with a 83 per cent clearance rate of today with five from six selling at online auctions.

Ray White Victoria CEO Stephen Dullens said auctioneers once again called auctions from their homes this week, and the online space continued to provide convenience for customers.

“This was evident for our two successful auctions in Warrnambool, with each of the Melbourne based vendors being able to tune in and watch the auction live from their home under Stage 4 restrictions,” Mr Dullens said.

“Outside the auction space, the market remains strong. In Stage 4 and Stage 3 restrictions, the Ray White group have once again transacted in excess of 100 properties in the last seven days - again proving the resilience of the market.

“Buyers remain out in force and prepared to bid and offer in excess of owners expectations to secure one of a lower number of listings available.

“Confidence remains extremely high.”

With much activity behind the scenes and many listings expected to hit the market in the weeks after restrictions ease, sentiment in the market remains high.

The preliminary biggest sale of the day in the Garden State came at the hands of Ray White Oakleigh Sales Agents Leigh Kelepouris and Anna Voon as they successfully sold 28 Elora Road in Oakleigh South for $933,000.

“This was a fantastic auction and incredibly, before the auctioneer had even got to call for the first bid, bids of $701,000, $720,000 and $730,000 had already been placed,” Mr Kelepouris said.

“This was the only auction to take place across all the real estate agencies in Oakleigh today and it really showed as we had more than 300 people watching the action online.

“The majority of buyers saw this as a development opportunity so based on that we decided to press on with the auction, even during Stage 4 restrictions.

“It was the right call as we ended up with nine registered bidders, six of whom were active, and it actually ended up being a local family that purchased the property.

Plumber Anthony, along with his wife Emily and two children under the age of 10, are delighted to have secured the dream family home despite the obstacles.

“It was a day of firsts today - first auction, first online auction, first bid and first house we’ve ever bought - we’re super happy and excited and it’s just surreal,” Anthony said.

“The property ticked all the boxes, and yes there is an element of risk with Stage 4 lockdown, but we weren’t willing to wait for our dream. By hook or by crook we were going to do it.

“Leigh was excellent throughout - open and honest, he put this property in front of us knowing it was perfect, and it was - we were just so happy the auction went ahead at all.”

Ray White Glen Waverley has conducted more than 100 online auctions since April, but none quite like the absolute marathon that took place today for a four-bed one-bath property in Wheelers Hill that took a minute longer than an NRL match.

Bidding for 757 Ferntree Gully Road started at $650,000 at 11:00am before finally selling under the virtual hammer for $880,000 at 12.21pm - a massive $90,000 over reserve.

“This was a marathon well-worth running for our vendors as seven of the eight registered bidders simply refused to give up on this property,” said Ray White Glen Waverley Area Manager Cristine Jones, who managed the sale with Sales Associate Tracy Tsang.

“Auctions are second nature to our office with around 90 per cent of our properties going under the hammer so we really believe in and understand the process and we’re able to reassure our vendors that it’s the right way to sell real estate in any market.

“We had momentum from the very start of listing this property and the buyers interested initially stuck around even when we moved into Stage 4 restrictions so we were confident of going ahead with the auction.

“It paid off as we had countless bids in the 81 minutes - but it couldn’t have been possible without a massive team effort with everyone chipping in on the phone and behind the scenes from their own lockdown.

“It allowed us to achieve our everyday goal of getting the best price for our very happy vendors.”

The hurdles of Stage 4 restrictions were being cleared elsewhere in the state of Victoria as 47 Kumala Road in Bayswater sold for $481,000 after attracting 12 registered bidders, five of whom actively participated.

Then it was double delight in Warrnambool as 289 Lava Street sold for $420,000 with three of the five registered bidders active, and that was followed by 3 Patterson Street where four of seven registered bidders battled it out before the hammer fell at $318,000.

Ray White QLD Chief Auctioneer Mitch Peereboom said there had been some stand-out sales across the course of the week in the Sunshine State.

“If you look at our average number of registered bidders, it has maintained in recent weeks. We’re very confident in our ability to create competition at the moment,” Mr Peereboom said.

“We are seeing more listings come to the market so we are more back to parity with where we were in 2019 - that hasn’t affected sales prices as of yet.

“We’re still seeing properties have multiple registrations with lots of buyers competing for the same stock, but that could change over the coming months as we see more come on, which is usually what happens traditionally in the spring selling season.

“If you look at our competition in terms of active bidding - again a stand-out - buyers are ready to bid, they’ve got their finance organised, and pre-approvals are an absolute high.

“So, take advantage of the conditions and come to the market at the end of September or earlier October for auctions during that period.

“We are so confident to recommend what we know is happening in the market now and certainly this is something we are discussing with so many of our customers who are considering coming to market now or later in the year, there really is no reason to wait.”

The preliminary biggest sale of the day in the Sunshine State came at the hands of Ray White Brisbane City Sales Executive Karen Pierce as she successfully sold 61 Broadway Street in Woolloongabba for $1,450,000.

“This property was built to a fantastic standard just five years ago, and because it was so beautifully presented, it appealed to a wide demographic of buyers,” Ms Pierce said.

“It’s actually the fifth property i’ve sold for the vendors - the second in the last two months - and that highlights the real value of great relationships for repeat business.

“The market is very good right now, especially when it comes to inner-city Brisbane, when a property comes up for sale it generally doesn’t stay on the market for long.

“The demand is very much outstripping the supply and the demand for Woolloongabba is increasing massively because of Cross River Rail. It was a lovely local family who were the lucky winning bidders of this gorgeous home.”

The success continued over in West End, as Ray White New Farm Sales Agent Claudia Marchand managed the $1,140,000 sale of a three-bed, one-bath home at 2 Ganges Street.

“The property drew a lot of interest throughout the campaign with over 50 groups coming through the open homes - particularly families,” Ms Marchand said.

“The home offered a huge amount of potential because of the ability to build underneath - that along with the sought-after West End location - ticked all of the boxes.

“The market is fantastic with the number of buyers outstripping the properties available - the feedback for the property was between $1,100,000 and $1,200,000 so the vendors are very happy.

“The home was bought by a lovely family, originally from Melbourne and returned prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and they were actually staying in an AirBnB just five doors down.

“They were also looking in Paddington but they fell in love with the area and they too appreciated the potential this property had to offer.”

Ray White South Australia Chief Auctioneer John Morris said Adelaide recorded a healthy clearance rate of 71.4 per cent for the day, and a campaign clearance rate of 80 per cent, with 7.6 average registered bidders this week.

“As the sun came out, so too did the yellow flags with 32 per cent of auctions this week being held by Ray White members across the state.

“Special mention goes to Jann Wilksch with 30 registered bidders in Enfield and Ray White Goolwa | Victor Harbor where Nathan Fry and Nici Godwin managed to get 10 registered bidders for a house in an area where there are normally no auctions.”

The property at 9 Clayton St, Clayton Bay sold under the hammer for $134,000.

Agent Jann Wilksch from Ray White Norwood ran a textbook auction campaign. She and her colleagues spent almost an hour signing up the 30 registered bidders who were keen on 15 Turnbull Rd, Enfield.

“There was huge interest in this property from seasoned developers who are keen to put up some townhouses. Over the campaign I took more than 70 groups through for my 97 year old vendor who is in a nursing home and her son Joe,” she said (pictured above).

Mr Morris accepted the first bid of $450,000 and then 67 bids later the house sold for $706,000, which was $216,000 over its reserve.

“In the end there were two bidders battling it out in $1000 bids. It’s a perfect north facing corner allotment on 880sqm.

“The three bedroom home is tidy and will be rented out while the new owners work out the next step. Today was the perfect example of an auction in action.”

Meanwhile, Ray White West Lakes Principal Larry Finis sold this timeless character home at 18 Glengarry St, Woodville South for $953,000 after a whopping 14 registered bidders turned out for the gorgeous 1936 classic bungalow.

“The first bid was a knockout blow when a lady bidder opened at $870,000 and that knocked out most of the bidders. So there was just two bidders who dueled it out up to to $953,000.

“The vendors were gobsmacked, just over the moon. I have known the seller since she was born and I am happy for them, and they are now off to build a house not too far away.”