Melbourne auction clearance rate dips to 38 percent, but unliveable Reservoir squat sells at $590,000
Melbourne today recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 38.7 per cent from the 30 reported results, with 45 auctions withdrawn.
It is the lowest tally in living memory, with a marked deterioration of the weekend when there was a 45.3 percent success rate calculated in July.
The Domain figures see withdrawn auctions counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
Most city agents have realised potential buyers weren’t keen to bid unless they could see the property, which is not possible during the stage four restrictions.
Across the small markets, Adelaide recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 83.9%, the highest of the smaller cities, Canberra followed with 75.9% of homes selling at auction over the week.
However sales included a Reservoir knockdown opportunity.
The unliveable home sold to a developer for $590,000 at 161 Henty Street.
It had been a squat.
Ray White Oakleigh agents Leigh Kelepouris and Anna Voon sold 28 Elora Road in Oakleigh South for $933,000, with more than 300 people watching the action online.
“The majority of buyers saw this as a development opportunity so based on that we decided to press on with the auction, even during Stage 4 restrictions.
“It was the right call as we ended up with nine registered bidders, six of whom were active, and it actually ended up being a local family that purchased the property."
It sold to a local plumber.
A two-bedroom Californian bungalow, marketed as a likely knockdown, at 8 Bright Street, Camberwell, was sold under the virtual hammer for $1,638,000 in an auction that went for over an hour.
It was marketed as "rent out for great cashflow while preparing for a significant renovation and extension or the construction of a magnificently new family residence on 625 sq m approx. (STCA)."
Down on the Mornington Peninsula agents are listing and selling properties they have never inspected.
In the past month Nicholas Lynch Real Estate has sold 11 houses to buyers that had only viewed them online.
Warlimont and Nutt Real Estate has sold three properties to buyers who had only seen them online.
Nicholas Lynch Real Estate managing director Nicholas Lynch said technology was allowing agents to list, market and sell properties without viewing them or meeting vendors and buyers “in the flesh”.
Lynch told the Herald Sun said the company had moved to Zoom property inspections where sellers take prospective buyers on a virtual tour of their homes via the conferencing app while agents narrate.
During stage three lockdown the walk troughs were filmed by agents.
But in stage four, vendors had taken over, joining an agent, buyer and Nicholas Lynch’s marketing manager on a four-way Zoom call.
The initiative had helped secure 11 sales including one to a San Francisco-based Aussie expat, who worked for Netflix.
Warlimont and Nutt director Trent Cameron said demand was high for Mornington Peninsula properties and searches for houses in the region had soared by 56 per cent compared to the same time last year.
Real Estate Buyers Agents Association president Cate Bakos warned against purchasing a property sight-unseen, saying a home “might look good in the video and photographs, but properties can feel very different in the flesh”.
On Friday Victoria’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton, says he doesn’t know if daily COVID-19 infection rates will fall enough in the next fortnight to end stage four restrictions.