Galloping to sell: Melbourne auction levels at all-time high

Galloping to sell: Melbourne auction levels at all-time high
Jonathan ChancellorDecember 7, 2020

Jockey Brad Rawiller’s trackside Ascot Vale townhouse was among the Melbourne weekend offerings that just got across the line.

Rawiller and his wife Carolyn secured $980,000 post-auction for their three-bedroom riverside townhouse (picture above) located just across the road from the Flemington Racecourse.

It was sold by the upsizing couple shortly after being passed in at $970,000, having been their home for 17 years. It last traded at $380,000 in 2000, reflecting 5.6 percent annual price growth.

Rawiller was at Caulfield where he rode Burning Front into second place in the Moonga Stakes.

Next weekend Melbourne get's its traditional spike in pre-Derby Day-Cup Day Super Saturday listings.

There are around 1700 homes set to go under the hammer, which will be an all-time record for a Melbourne Saturday.

Saturday will present buyers with the biggest choice of homes since the pre-Easter 2016 Super Saturday when 1598 homes went under the hammer.

With more than 1000 homes up for auction next weekend, Sydney will have its second biggest weekend of the year.

"The market will be well and truly tested next weekend," Domain chief economist Dr Andrew Wilson said.

A total of $500 million worth of property was reported sold across Melbourne over the weekend, with Sydney buyers wagering around $300 million on their property outlays.

The national preliminary auction clearance rate sat below 70 percent, according to CoreLogic.

The combined capital cities returned a preliminary auction clearance rate of 69.4 per cent this weekend.

The trend towards softer auction market conditions has been led by the Sydney market, Kevin Brogan, the CoreLogic auction analyst said.

Auction volumes were similar week-on-week, with 2,471 properties taken to auction, compared to 2,525 last week.

This time last year a clearance rate of 78.1 per cent was recorded.

Melbourne had the priciest declared weekend sale across the nation when a Parkville terrace fetched $5.6 million.

It was the grand two storey home of architect Roger Wood, the co-founder of Wood Marsh, and his wife Shelley Lasica.

The 108 Park Drive property, an 1880s charmer had a $3.8 million reserve with Nelson Alexander Carlton North agent Peter Stephens who told the Herald Sun four bidders pursued the three-bedroom house.

The couple paid $965,000 in 2002 before the renovation which included putting in a 12m-long wine cellar.

There was also a $6.56 million undisclosed sale in Hawthorn. The 10 Riversdale Court offering had three bidders, with just the two after it was announced on the market at $5.8 million. 

Yarrayum, was is a split-level contemporary brick family home with views of the Yarra and the city skylines through a beautiful rare Tulip tree on a 803sqm block.

There was also the undisclosed $6.4 million sale at 18 Coleridge Street, Kew. There were the five bidders after a $6,050,000 bid saw Marshall White auctioneer James Tostevin announce that the five bedroom, five bathroom property was on the market.

The private rear garden comes with solar heated in-ground pool designed by Dave Franklin from Franklin Design.

Melbourne's 73.3 per cent success rate across 1,030 results remained the mainland's strongest market.

There were 1,224 properties taken to auction across the city, up from 1,223 last week when the final clearance rate was recorded at 73.2 per cent.

Over the same week last year, 1,377 auctions were held and a clearance rate of 80.6 per cent was recorded.

Sydney was host to 806 auctions this week with a preliminary clearance rate of 68.8 per cent, up from the final 63.3 per cent tally last week across 928 auctions.

One year ago, 897 auctions were held across Sydney and 82.6 per cent were successful.

The strongest of the 15 sub-regions were the Northern Beaches (83.1 per cent), Eastern Suburbs (78.4 per cent), City and Inner South (78.2 per cent) and North Sydney and Hornsby (74.4 per cent) regions. 

But the highest sale came from the Sutherland Shire when $5,020,000 a Burraneer Bay waterfront was sold.

It was a three bedroom home at 10 Wren Place.

Highlands Property Cronulla selling agent David Highland said there had been 80 inspections over the four week marketing campaign withy four contracts issued.

Canberra is closing in on Sydney's spot as the typically second strongest market.

Across Canberra, 72 homes were taken to auction this weekend. Preliminary results show a clearance rate of 68.3 per cent, down from 72.2 per cent the previous week. 

Canberra prices ranged between $478,000 at Bonner and $1.399 million in Turner.

The $478,000 sale was a three bedroom townhouse in the Motown complex at 15/29 Muriel Stewart Cct.

The 1/12 Gould Street, Turner triplex four bedroom townhouse offering had sold at 41 million in 2008.

The preliminary clearance rate in Brisbane this week rose to 51.5 per cent, from 46.1 per cent last week. Auction volumes were unchanged week-on-week with 171 homes taken to auction.

Brisbane's outskirts had the cheapest house sale when a three bedroom at Woodridge in Logan City was sold for $225,000.

The 9 Claverton Street offering had sold in 2014 at $229,000.

In Adelaide, a 66.1 per cent preliminary result was recorded this week across 147 auctions. Last week, 93 Adelaide auctions returned a clearance rate of 65.9 per cent for the city, while at the same time last year, 100 homes were taken to auction, with 71.3 per cent recording a successful result.

Adelaide sales included a sandstone and brick home that fetched $1.146 million at Rose Park.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

Editor's Picks