Buyers Out In Force As Spring Confidence Grows

Confidence in the auction market continues to be extremely strong as Australasia’s largest real estate group recorded a preliminary auction day clearance rate of 85 per cent across the country today.

While the river city of Brisbane produced the top sale and the top number of bidders for the day, the standout city by clearance was Adelaide, recording a 94.4 per cent clearance rate.

Of the 311 scheduled auctions for Saturday, 141 proceeded to auction, with 67 selling prior and 22 postponed to a later date.

Average registered bidders sat at 7.7 nationally. Notably, an auction in Brisbane had 47  registered bidders which demonstrates the intense buyer demand.

Ray White chief economist Nerida Conisbee said Australian house prices are on average, the highest they’ve ever been.

“What has been interesting this cycle is how consistent across the country increases have been,” Ms Conisbee said.

“Topping the list in dollar terms are Sydney’s eastern suburbs where the median has increased by nearly $1 million since the start of the pandemic.

“However, in percentage terms, the Far West and Orana region of New South Wales, which includes Dubbo and Broken Hill, has achieved the highest increase of 57 per cent.

“Capital city and regional areas have all seen prices take off.”

Ray White NSW chief auctioneer Alex Pattaro said the market was still incredibly strong.

“We continue to see incredible confidence within the market with an abundance of buyers all looking to secure a home before the end of the year,” Mr Pattaro said.

“A personal best trading month in September for Ray White NSW and ACT suggests there were plenty of opportunities for buyers and sellers.

“Sellers who were looking to transact within the market and do so with ease, knowing they can obtain a great price for their home and resecure another home.

“The October outlook is strong and we expect it to continue without the remainder of the year.”

A three-bedroom apartment at 7/57 O’Brien St, Bondi Beach, NSW received a huge amount of interest with Ray White Maroubra | South Coogee agent Jamal Choker conducting 80 private one on one inspections prior to auction.

At auction on Saturday the property had 16 registered bidders, with eight bidders active in a strong competition to own the home.

The property sold for $2.01 million, with the winning bid going to a young local family.

“On that specific property we had over 80 enquiries and just as many inspections,” Mr Choker said.

“There was strong interest. I would say the location made it the most desirable, it’s very well located near Bondi Beach.

“It’s an apartment in a small block which is quite appealing.

“It’s quite a family orientated building which suited the buyers.”

A property at 6 Lorna Avenue, North Ryde, sold for $2.481 million — $231,000 above reserve.

The property was sold with development approval to build a luxury home.

With 20 registered bidders, the property received a lot of interest, with the winning bid going to local owner occupiers.

Ray White Gladesville listing agent Joseph Mazar said the vendor, an investor from Putney, was very happy with the result.

“It was a combination of a great property, great marketing and a great team, which helped achieve such a fantastic result,” Mr Mazar said.

“The property was a nice quiet location close to the main amenities, it’s quite a nice property.”

A stylish two-bedroom, two-bathroom home at Potts Point has sold for $2.63 million — $730,000 above reserve — a great result for the vendors and Ray White Woollahra | Paddington agents Alexander Smith and Matthew Walker.

Located at 318/50 Macleay Street, Mr Smith said the property attracted a lot of interest.

“The property was so special due to being in the well renowned Rex building,” he said.

“It was set over a very spacious floor plan in a low supply market — perfect for upsizers, downsizers, city bolt hole buyers and investors.

“The buyers were relocating from Drummoyne to enjoy inner city living.”

The Victorian real estate market continues to gather momentum and return to a sense of normality as private inspections are once again permitted across Melbourne.

Ray White Victoria and Tasmania CEO Stephen Dullens discussed the impact this has had on the market, as well as what the coming weeks would look like.

“The last few weeks have seen strong activity from buyers and sellers as they make up for lost time post lockdown restrictions,” Mr Dullens said.

“We know that many customers have been holding off on these big decisions, such as the purchase of a property or getting their property on the market, with the inability to physically inspect property.”

Despite these challenges, Mr Dullens said pent up demand continued to ensure the spring market was well and truly alive.

“Across the last two weeks we’ve seen almost double the number of new listings hit the market compared to lockdown periods in August – showing once again the resilience of the Victorian property market,” he said.

“Despite this, buyer demand continues to outweigh properties available for sale.

“Auction booking for October and November indicate we’re up for a very busy spring.”

Ray White Victoria chief auctioneer Matt Condon said the state achieved an average of 6.9 registered bidders during Saturday’s auctions.

“This week has seen one of Ray White Victoria’s biggest weeks in auction volume for 2021, Mr Condon said.

“It’s great to see that this increase in volume was once again met with a higher level of buyer demand.

“Preliminary data from the Ray White Group has revealed a high average of registered and active bidders per auction.

“Results range from entry level real estate to prestige properties with all markets achieving exceptional results.

“Since the commencement of private inspections in Victoria, the real estate market has continued to go from strength to strength.”

Lack of supply and a huge demand from buyers was what drove the competitive auction for Greenvale property 9 Monte Carlo Court, with the five-bedroom home selling for $1.166 million — $166,000 above reserve.

There were eight bidders registered on auction day with five bidders active throughout the auction.

Auctioneer and listing agent Phillip Mercieca said interest came mostly from families, with the winning bid going to a young family looking to upsize.

The vendors had lived in the home for about a decade and were looking to downsize.

“It was a great home in a great location,” Mr Mercieca said.

“There’s buyers looking for these family homes in this particular pocket in Greenvale with very little supply.

“It just proves there are so many more buyers than there are properties, which is why buyers are willing to stretch a bit more.”

A five-bedroom home at 8 Candlebark Quadrant, Rowville, sold well above reserve for $1.656 million — a great result for the vendors and listing agent David Armstrong.

The vendors, who had lived in the home for 20 years, decided to sell as they were wanting to downsize.

The property received a lot of interest with 11 registered bidders on the day and four active bidders.

The winning bid went to a Clayton family who intend to live in the home.

“It’s a larger block with a nice quality home,” Mr Armstrong said.

“It’s an original home but it was only built in 1998 and it’s nicely maintained with a swimming pool.

“Most interest was from owner occupiers who were second or third home buyers.”

Ray White New Farm and Bulimba had a hugely successful auction event (pictured above) with seven out of nine properties selling through the campaign.

Four properties sold under the hammer on Saturday with three properties selling prior to auction.

Principal and auctioneer at Ray White New Farm Haesley Cush said the crowd was very welcoming at the auction event.

“They were there to buy and they were happy to buy,” Mr Cush said.

“We’ve got a group of buyers in Brisbane who know they better get their buying done before the borders open.

“Even though we’re still getting a lot of interest from buyers in Sydney and Melbourne, that will increase when borders open.

Mr Cush said this was Ray White New Farm and Bulimba’s third prestige auction event, and he was very happy with the results.

“This might be our most successful event in terms of clearance rate, registered bidders, and results,” he said.

“We’re in the middle of spring in an exciting Brisbane market!”

The top price went to 1 Inverness Street, Ascot at $5.5 million, which was also the top price nationally.

Ray White New Farm principal Matt Lancashire said the 1300sqm in Ascot drove a lot of interest from local, interstate, and international buyers.

“It was on a larger block and the home is a beautiful character home,” Mr Lancashire said.

“You don’t have to do any work to it, it’s been beautifully renovated.

“We had a huge amount of inquiries from Sydney and international buyers coming home.

“We’re finding with high-end properties there’s a 50/50 chance of selling to a local or interstate buyer.

A two-bedroom townhouse in Coorparoo attracted 47 registered bidders at the online auction on Saturday.

Located at 1/106 Mackay Street, the property sold for $602,000 — $82,000 above reserve.

Ray White Indooroopilly agent Kirrilli Cobley said the property had received a huge amount of enquiry, with 250 groups expecting the property prior to auction.

“It was the fact that it has a massive grass backyard which suits upsizers and downsizers– people upsizing from an apartment or downsizing for a house,” Ms Cobley said.

“It ticked so many boxes for so many people.

“There’s not much townhouse stock available, especially in a great location in Coorparoo.”

The property was sold to a young couple of owner-occupiers.

A block of three flats located at 13 Brisbane St, Annerley attracted a lot of interest from both local and interstate investors with 19 registered bidders at auction.

The property sold for $1.5 million — $300,000 above reserve — a great result for the vendors and Ray White Annerley listing agent Geoff Sellars.

“Three flats on one title with good rental returns is pretty unique,” Mr Sellars said.

“We had a lot of interstate interest with eight or nine phone bidders with another six or seven on site.”

The property was sold to an investor from Townsville who was relocating to Brisbane.

Ray White Queensland chief auctioneer Gavin Croft said the market remained strong, although it would be hard to beat last week’s clearance rate of 100 per cent.

“The big influence we continue to see is those southern buyers,” Mr Croft said.

“At our Tugun auctions during the week, where we conducted nine in-room auctions down on the Gold Coast, five of them sold to sight unseen buyers from Sydney.

“It’s a really big factor that’s coming in and playing a role in the energy of the south east Queensland market.

“The big question coming up to Christmas is, are we going to see the Brisbane and southeast Queensland market continue to go from strength to strength and really solidify itself, potentially becoming the auction capital of Australia?”

In South Australia, a property at 5 Birch Grove, Dernancourt, received a huge amount of interest with 30 registered bidders at auction.

The property sold for $682,000 — $54,000 above reserve– a great result for the vendors and Ray White Norwood listing agent Linda Clemente.

Ms Clemente said the vendors, who were a brother and sister (pictured above) who bought the three bedroom home together as an investment in their 20s, were extremely happy with the result.

“It was a great street in a great community,” Ms Clemente said.

“Linear Park is just down the road.

“There was a combination of different buyers wanting different things — there was a mix of investors, first home buyers and developers.

The winning bid went to a Melbourne investor who plans to develop the property in the future.

A three-bedroom home at 1/106 Devereux Road, Beaumont, sold for $1.051 million — $11,000 above reserve — a great result for the vendor and Ray White Norwood listing agent Stefan Siciliano.

Ray White South Australia chief auctioneer John Morris said the action packed auction had six registered bidders in total, after one bidder registered half way through the auction.

“The bidding got to $1 million and I was about to drop the hammer when someone asked if they could register,” Mr Morris said.

“They hadn’t seen the property but bid right up until $1.050 million where they were out.

“The winning bid went to an older couple who had recently sold in Burnside and wanted to downsize.”

Another three-bedroom home at 35 Norman Street, Woodville, sold for $840,000 — $90,000 above reserve.

Ray White Woodville agent Peter Kiritsis said the property received a lot of interest from owner-occupiers with seven registered bidders and five active bidders at auction.

“A lot of people were looking for near original character homes on large allotments,” Mr Kiritsis said.

“They’re just great family homes for future generations to enjoy — they’re getting more scarce, these older homes on big blocks.”

The home had been in the vendor’s family for 40 years, and they decided it was time to sell.

“They decided it was time for a young family to come in and restore it,” Mr Kiritsis said.

“It was bought by a young family who had missed out on several other auctions recently, so they were happy to finally secure something.”

Ray White South Australia chief auctioneer John Morris (pictured above) said Ray White had called 32 per cent of auctions across the state this week.

“Our preliminary clearance rate so far is 100 per cent, and we have eight registered bidders per auction on average,” Mr Morris said.

“Last week was about the same with a slightly lower clearance rate of 86 per cent.

“The market does not look like it’s slowing down in any way, shape or form.

“If today’s results are anything to go by for what the next weeks and months will be like, every auction I’ve called this week has sold under the hammer very comfortably, with strong bidder registrations and incredible crowds.”

In Western Australia, there was a massive turnout for the auction of 3/24 Minilya St, Innaloo.

The property sold under the hammer for $812,000, with eight registered bidders and four active bidders.

“It was incredible,” Ray White Applecross agent Jake Ecker said.

“The house next door sold earlier this year for $750,000.

“We expected bidding to start in the low $700,000s but the first bidder jumped right in at $790,000.”

Mr Ecker said Innaloo was a highly sought after location.

“Public transport and all the amenities are less than 1km away,” he said.

“The house itself, although a bit smaller, as really good use of space with high ceilings and room for the whole family.”

The property was bought by a family who intend on living in the home (pictured above).