Today was a great day for the true believers of the auction method. And another great day for all homeowners – it again confirmed the health of Australia’s six trillion dollar housing market.
Today also proved that those agents and auctioneers who are adaptable and technologically talented can and will continue to thrive in the new environment. 60%+ of auctions today alone sold using the Ray White Group’s new “private” auction method with 91% of “private” auctions having active bidding.
Our new digital “private” auction system is unique – a hybrid of an electronic bidding platform combined with a live stream of not only the auctioneer, but all buyers as well, effectively recreating the transparent and exciting environment of a traditional public auction, all from the comfort of the buyer’s home environment.
Don’t be swayed by people who say auctions don’t work anymore. Instead talk to those agents who have already adjusted, have found new solutions and most importantly, have fought hard to deliver for their customers. They are worth talking to, with the results being clear to see.
Today there were headlines in national newspapers that screamed “Auction Listings drop 80%”. Another that said “This is deadly” for auctions.
Not so at Ray White. And we should know, given we call about 20-25% of all auctions across Australia and New Zealand.
The key data direct from the Ray White Group’s new “private” auctions tells a fascinating story and certainly not the doom and gloom being reported;
61% of “private” auctions sold today versus 55.6% of public auctions sold last Saturday. There was a somewhat lower volume, but those that pushed to auction day had success
90.2% of “private” auctions today had active bidding versus 76.1% of public auctions last Saturday.
Auctions that sold under the hammer sold for 3.48% higher than the highest offer prior to auction.
Our withdrawn rates (excluding sold priors) did increase from 15% to 29%, but that is hardly a collapse. We imagine once our customers see today’s great results and get comfortable with the technology, that percentage will drop.
We have so many ideas to keep improving our “private” auctions. It’s going to be another exciting week ahead as we continue to evolve our processes to keep pace with the rapidly changing environment.
Dan White
Managing Director – Ray White Group
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