Weekend auction wrap: where the hammer fell
Sydney’s auction clearance rate slumped from 63% to 53%, hardly instilling much market confidence. But it’s not as if new low levels are being set; rather, the rate is merely back to the 52% clearance recorded in mid-July. Things could have been far worse in July but for Sydney’s weekend auction volumes being about 20% down on July 2010, and Melbourne’s volumes being down 15%, according to Australian Property Monitors. Last year August was the quietest winter auction month for Sydney and Melbourne, and the preliminary estimates of listings for next four weeks suggest it will happen again in Sydney. For Melbourne there’s’ an average 509 auctions scheduled for upcoming weekends, according to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, compared with 496 over the previous five years. The Queensland flood-affected properties continue to yield the country’s cheapest sale prices.
Melbourne prestige buyers agent Mal James from James Buyer Advocates says the buyer demand does seem to be there – “for some properties anyway.”
"But there’s no real depth of auction numbers over $1 million, even taking into consideration we are historically in winter hibernation.
“In fact, [that market] has been non-existent in the last few weeks, what with the school holidays, the start of a new fiscal year and the traditional winter lethargy. Our benchmark for a strong auction weekend is 100 million-dollar auctions in bayside and inner-east Melbourne.
“This weekend we saw numbers in the mid 40s; next fortnight we predict around 50 and, the week after, 70 auctions to go under the hammer at $1 millionand above,” James says.
Despite the downturn, agents recommend sellers consider auction this spring. Today's three Observers, LJ Hooker Greenwith principal Michael Fenn, Raine & Horne chief auctioneer David Scholes and auctioneer Damien Cooley, agree
Sydney’s weekend clearance rate from the preliminary 293 results compiled by Australian Property Monitors. There were 340 scheduled auctions in Sydney. On the same Saturday last year the clearance rate was 57%. Clinton McNabb at APM says there are about 270 auctions due next weekend. After some further results came in from the July 23 auctions, Sydney recorded a 63.4% clearance rate, just higher than the initial 63% published figure.
Melbourne’s weekend clearance rate from the preliminary 512 results compiled by the Real Estate Institute of Victoria. There were 585 scheduled auctions held in Melbourne. On the same Saturday last year the clearance rate was 69%. REIV chief executive Enzo Raimondo says there are about 500 weekend auctions scheduled over the next few weeks. After some further results came in from the July 23 auctions, Melbourne recorded a 57% clearance rate, slightly lower than the 59% published figure from the initial Saturday results.
The weekend’s highest reported sale in NSW was a three-bedroom Bronte, NSW, bungalow with district views of the Sydney’s eastern suburbs. The Yanko Avenue house on 424 square metres had been listed through McGrath agent Trent Knox. The deceased estate was offered for the first time in six decades. It’s the 12th sale on the avenue to fetch above $2.3 million, the most recent being a three-bedroom house on 557 square metres with ocean views that sold through McGrath in April for about $3.3 million when offered for the first time in over 50 years. In February the hand surgeon Jennifer Green and her husband, Wing Commander Guy Wilson, an RAAF pilot, sold their contemporary four-bedroom, two-bathroom, two-level residence for $3.7 million, having listed it with $3.5 million-plus expectations. Knox issued ninecontracts during the campaign. There were four registrations of which three people bid. The reserve was $2.2 million
Albert Park continued its regular placement as Melbourne’s weekend auction hotspot. It was a Hocking Stuart listing that had been tipped to fetch between $2 million and $2.2 million. It was a renovated Barrett Street house set behind a single-fronted Victorian façade. Buyers' agent Mal James reported there were no bidders at the auction, but it was sold after auction.
The five-room Bundoora, Victoria townhouse currently leased to tenants at $555 per week was sold by Ray White Bundoora agent Joshua Allison. It had been listed with price hopes of $390,000 plus. The sale price reflects a 7.1% yield, well above the indicative rental yield for Bundoora houses of 3.7%, according to RP Data. The three-bedroom, three-bathroom house is between RMIT and La Trobe University.
The photographer Hugh Stewart didn’t get to sell his Bondi Beach home, which had been listed through goodyerDonnelley agent Alexander Phillips, who had pre-auction expectations of about $1.6 million. Offers over $1,375,000 are now being sought. Set on a level block in a tightly held cul-de-sac, the property is two minutes' walk from the southern end of the beach. Stewart shot the Chanel No.5 advertising campaign featuring Nicole Kidman. It cost $406,000 in 1997.
There was a buzz when a Montclair Avenue, Brighton house sold through Peter Kennett at Hocking Stuart for $1.82 million. The well-located property attracted nine bidders frantically vying to buy after the $1.5 million opening bid. The property was on the market at $1.62 million, David James at James Buyer Advocates says.
A four-bedroom house at Patrick Estate was the weekend’s cheapest sale. Set in Queensland’s south east, the 1.7-hectare property was flood-affected earlier this year. “Prior to the floods this was an immaculate family home and now needs moving and raising to minimise any future flooding,” Brett Barry, the Ray White Lowood agent, says. “My owners can’t afford to re-build and are totally traumatizsd. They just want to sell the thing and move on.” It last sold at $165,000 in 2002.
Adelaide’s cheapest weekend sale was a three-bedroom brick residence on 659 square metres at Modbury North,which had been listed with $260,000 hopes through LJ Hooker Hope Valley agent Vincent Davies.
Author Christine Armarego and medico Adam Fraser, who co-authored Sugar Daddy (a book about diabetes and a healthy lifestyle), sold their double-fronted Federation house Leichhardt in Sydney’s inner west through Luke Holden of Sarah Lorden Real Estate. The two-bedroom brick residence on 143 square metres had initial expectations of more than $880,000. It last sold for $708,000 in 2007.
A four-bedroom 1950s house fetched $781,000 on in the Sydney suburb of Kingsgrove. Still held by the original owners, it was the first time the well-cared-for Beresford Parade house had been offered in six decades. It had gone to auction with $750,000-plus hopes through Romeo Safetly of PRD Nationwide Bexley North.
The weekend’s highest reported sale was at the Melbourne suburb of Glen Iris. The Irymple Avenue property sold through Iain Carmichael at Bennison Mackinnon with five bidders after opening with a vendor bid of $2.45 million. It was on the market at $2.6 million, which Adam Woledge at James Buyer Advocates deemed was a strong result.
The result wasn’t reported, but James Buyer Advocates suggest a tick over $3 million was the unconfirmed price paid on the weekend for a double-fronted four-bedroom Story Street, Parkville period home listed through Tom Roberts of Nelson Alexander. Polector, located close to Melbourne University, sits among Parkville's grandest boom-period residences with a land size of 540 square metres.
