Strong weekend for auction tippers, with 14 of 15 properties in competition sold at or after auction

There's now a tipping website, www.propertytycoon.com.au, where punters can guess auction results in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, with no outlay. It's mostly about testing your market knowledge with a small cash prize as a sweetener.

In round three this week Brisbane properties fared considerably better than they did in the previous rounds, with four of the five selling at or just after auction. In Melbourne and Sydney, all five properties featured in the competition sold at or just after auction.

The unit at 5/12 Howard Street, Richmond, featured on Property Observer, attracted considerable interest from first-home buyers at its weekend, auction, according to Mark Armstrong from Property Tycoon.

"First-home buyers were out in force at the auction of Howard Street in Richmond when two bidders battled head on for the right to negotiate with the vendor," Armstrong says. "The property was passed in for $515,000 and sold shortly afterwards for $525,000."

However, he says the result, while strong, was not stellar for the vendor.

"Although the result earned its owner 100 grand since it last sold in 2007 for $422,000, it lagged behind the wider market over the same period. An annual compound growth rate of 4.5% was well below that the 7.42% growth in the median value of apartments over the same time frame," Armstrong says. 

The price for the Sydney property featured on Property Observer, 22 Devonshire Street, Crows Nest, was not disclosed, but Armstrong says it sold under the hammer for more than $1.1 million. 

And the Brisbane property featured on Property Observer, 83 Agnes Street, Auchenflower, attracted considerable buyer interest and sold under the hammer.

"It was a big auction with eight registered bidders and a crowd of 80 looked on as it sold under the hammer for $757,500," Armstrong says. "The average tip was almost spot on, coming in at $754,454."