Melbourne auction tipping competition property sells after auction, but Sydney property can't get over the line
A Northcote property featured in this week's Property Tycoon auction tipping competition was passed in but sold shortly after auction this weekend, but small land size deterred buyers in Birchgrove.
There’s a website, www.propertytycoon.com.au, where punters can guess what they think properties will sell for at their weekend auctions in Melbourne and Sydney. This season Property Observer readers have their own competition, which you can access here. The winner of the overall competition will win $1,000.
Quoting the price range for a property can be a tricky business for real estate agents. Quote it too low, and an agent will cop flack for underquoting. Quote too high and the bidders are less likely to turn up.
Bev Adam from Jellis Craig quoted 6 Membry Street, Northcote (pictured above), accurately on Saturday. The $1.25 million to $1.35 million quote was a very good indication of value, however, due to many years of underquoting most buyers have trained themselves to factor in a 10% to 15% premium on top of the quote. In this case the buyers correctly did not see value at $1.5 million and as a result the property was passed in on a vendor bid of $1.25 million.
As is often the case the buyers came out of the woodwork once the auction had finished when they realised the reserve was more in tune with their expectations. This created a quasi-auction after the auction and a flurry of negotiations ensued. The property sold for an undisclosed amount just above $1.35 million in the hours after the auction.
It was a lack of buyer interest rather than a quoting issue at 10 Ballast Street, Birchgrove (pictured above). The lure of a waterside property failed to get the buyers’ juices flowing. Good land size is still the main driver of the market in Sydney, and given 10 Ballast Street sat on less than 400 square metres many buyers opted to wait for a better option.
Sally Hampshire from Laing & Simmons passed the property in on a vendor bid of $2.7 million. Just over a quarter of tippers thought the property would be passed in.