Mid-winter auction surge

Auctioneer and Ray White New South Wales head of performance Alex Pattaro said there was good activity in the market as the group heads into the second part of the year.

“Stock continues to be tight but we are still seeing strong prices,” Mr Pattaro said.

“As we move closer to the spring market, we anticipate more stock to hit the market, giving buyers more choice.

“This week, New South Wales saw an uplift in average registered bidder numbers to five on average.”

3 Sally Place, Kellyville (pictured above)

• Sold for $2.29 million

• Six registered and three active bidders

• Agent: Kael Sharp

• Ray White Castle Hill

“The buyers were owner occupiers looking to upsize to a larger family home,” Mr Sharp said.

“All the other buyers were families, except for one investor.

“The auction was pretty competitive, it started at $1.7 million and went up from there.

“The campaign was compressed and was two weeks long instead of the usual three or four.

“The house is north facing with a triple garage, larger than average block size for the area and with renovated bathrooms so it was quite attractive to the market.”

10 Arcadia Road, Chester Hill

• Sold for $1.722 million - the reserve was $1.6 million

• 19 registered bidders and seven active bidders

• Agents: Jordon Le Breux and Domenic Boustani

• Ray White Bankstown

“The buyer had just sold their property in Bonnyrigg a week or two ago. They first inspected it on Wednesday evening, they weren’t really looking at this one and were driving through, saw my sign and had a look, then ended up being the purchaser,” Mr Le Breux said.

“Many of the buyers were families. They had the mindset that they would live in the front and rent out the back as the property featured a fully council approved granny flat. The property had been fully renovated so it was all ready to go.

“I’ve sold a few homes in Chester Hill lately so I knew there would be a lot of competition but didn’t realise how much we would have here. The bidding started at $1.2 million and a few of the bidders were knocked out straight away, then it was about to sell at around $1.65 million before someone else jumped in and it went up to the sale price.”

18 Bestic St, Rockdale

• Sold for $1.682 million - the reserve was $1.6 million

• 11 registered bidders and five active bidders

• Agents: Nicholas Economos and Tarun Cross

• Ray White Rockdale

• Auctioneer: Alex Pattaro, Ray White

“The winning bidder was an owner occupier relocating from Penshurst,” Mr Economos said.

“The seller was downsizing, she had been in the house for almost 30 years and it was time to look for something smaller.

“A lot of the buyers came from the Eastern Suburbs and the Inner West, some were upsizing while some buyers were looking for their first home.”

Ray White Victoria and Tasmania chief auctioneer Jeremy Tyrrell said the spirit of competition was well and truly alive this week with the Paris Olympic Games officially underway.

“The real estate market was no exception as competition at auction remained strong across the 230 auctions for the Ray White Group across the state of Victoria,” Mr Tyrrell said.

“However, unlike the Olympics, there are no silver and bronze medals in real estate, with only gold going to about 71 per cent of the market, more commonly known as the clearance rate.

“Next week, the Ray White network across Victoria has 237 auctions scheduled as the volume of listings continues to grow.”

61 Donald St, Brunswick

• Sold for $1.890 million - the reserve was $1.5 million

• 12 registered bidders and seven active bidders

• Agents: Jamil Allouche (auctioneer) and Belinda Rabar

• Ray White Brunswick

“Five minutes before the auction began it started to spit but we’d already made the decision to call it outside. Then five minutes into the auction it began to pour down, we had about 100 people watching but no one moved,” Mr Allouche said.

“It went for about 20 minutes with fierce bidding. We kept getting bids from three or four bidders initially, then one bidder would come in over the top and you’d think it was the end, it happened about three times.

“The winning bidder was waiting in his car, he actually jumped out of the car at the last moment and bid back and forth with the underbidder until it eventually sold to him.

“The buyer recently sold and was looking to buy something for his young family. They are local and have always lived in the area.

“Most of the other bidders were families along with a couple of builder types, but they were looking for owner occupier purposes.

“The house does need a bit of work but it’s got a lovely period charm, on a nice block and in a really good pocket. The rooms are a good size and you can do a lot with it.”

27 Macmillan Ave, Greenvale

• Sold for $1.48 million - the reserve was $1.35 million

• Three registered bidders and two active bidders

• Agent/auctioneer: Malek Younan

• Ray White Gladstone Park

“The winning bidder was a couple with adult children. They bid very competitively, they didn’t want to let it go,” Mr Younan said.

“All the bidders were local families with older children. One of the bidders only saw it two days prior to the auction.

“The auction started at $1.35 million so it was on the market straight away. There was a lot of back and forth between the active bidders and despite the rain, we had a big crowd of people come along.

“The fact that the home has been fully renovated so all the hard work is done really attracted people. The layout is also perfect for families with older children, it has three ensuites, five bedrooms, a pool and entertaining area - the whole works.”

Earlier in the day, Ray White Deer Park principal Leigh Grixti sold 17 Blakeville Dr, Caroline Springs for $800,000 as 14 registered bidders looked on amid a crowd of more than 80 people. The three bedroom home was bought sight unseen for the buyer’s daughter.

On the other side of Melbourne, Ray White Cheltenham’s Trevor Bowen sold 11/1321-1323 Nepean Highway, Cheltenham for $85,000 above the reserve. With a crowd of nearly 30 onlookers and four bidders, Ray White Cheltenham auctioneer Greg Brydon knocked down the property for $785,000 to a first home buyer (pictured above with the seller).

On the northside of the city, sales agent Tan Nguyen from Ray White Thomastown also had a successful sale with 47 Karingal Way, Thomastown selling for $895,000. Mr Nguyen sold the four bedroom property for $35,000 above the reserve price after an impressive campaign where he oversaw 115 inspections, resulting in 10 registered bidders and six active bidders. The home went to a first home buyer.

Ray White Queensland chief auctioneer Gavin Croft said it was a solid day in the Brisbane market today.

“I’ve been speaking about this volume increase - volume of new stock and volume of new listings coming through, so sellers have to be aware of what’s unfolding and how that impacts supply and demand,” Mr Croft said.

“The promising part today was, while supply continues to increase, we are still seeing clearance rates remain quite buoyant.

“But the interesting part is, we’re seeing a slight comeback in the number of average registered bidders. Traditionally, we sit between four and five very comfortably but over the course of today, three seems to be the norm.”

Ray White Collective, which includes offices in New Farm, Clayfield, Bulimba and Toowong had a stellar day, selling four from four across Brisbane. The standout sale was 55 Sefton Rd, Hendra which sold for $4.1 million to a local buyer through Ray White New Farm’s Tom Lyne and Ray White Collective principal Matt Lancashire.

Principal, Nicholas Given of Ray White Clayfield later sold 21 Rougham St, Windsor for $3.275 million and 3/27 Hunter St, Wooloowin for $1.06 million.

To close out the day 29 Chater St, Carina, which was marketed by Ray White Bulimba’s Conrad Leisemann, went for $1.2 million.

Ray White Collective principal and auctioneer Haesley Cush (pictured above with Mr Leisemann) said there was spirited bidding across the board today.

“Obviously all the talk today was about the Paris Olympic Games opening ceremony,” Mr Cush said.

“At each auction, I opened by asking who had braved the early morning wake up and watched the whole ceremony. Those who had would have seen the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and the Seine, all of Paris’ famous landmarks.

“But in eight years, billions of people are going to have their eyes on our city. They are going to know all about our Story Bridge, the beach and the bush. We are going to be on a world stage.

“I gave them the advice to buy today, which is advice they took.”

40 Aberdeen Tce, Gordon Park (pictured above)

• Sold for $3.95 million

• Seven registered and four active bidders

• Agents: Alistair Macmillan and Dwight Ferguson

• Ray White Wilston and Ray White Metro North

• Auctioneer: Phil Parker, Ray White
• ​See high res images here

“This is a record price for Gordon Park by a mile. The auction opened at $3 million, so it was already above the previous record of $2.8 million,” Mr Macmillan said.

“It was bought by a local family. They live in one of the neighbouring streets and have walked past it for over 10 years and have always wanted it. It’s their dream home.

“The sellers (pictured at top) are thrilled, they are downsizing to a single level property in Ascot after doing a massive renovation. They have lived there for more than 20 years.”

10 Penda Lane, Springfield

• Sold for $850,000

• Three registered and active bidders

• Agents: Rebecca Cuderman and Taha Artani

• Ray White AKG

“Demand is strong throughout Brisbane and the greater Springfield region. This property attracted buyers from Queensland and New South Wales, with the eventual buyer securing this property via phone from northern Queensland,” Ms Cuderman said.

Ray White AKG principal Avi Khan said buyers were coming from every corner of Queensland as they diversified their search.

“In the last 30 days, our sales management platform NurtureCloud has tracked our buyer enquiry and found they’ve come from over 100 different suburbs. People are looking far and wide to secure properties,” he said.

Later in the day, Ray White AKG’s Riah Manser and Ms Cuderman sold 21 Saint Patrick Ave, Kuraby for $697,500 under the hammer with five bidders in attendance.

Ms Manser said the property in Kuraby was very popular with local buyers and attracted over 40 groups at the open homes throughout the campaign. The eventual buyer came from the next door suburb of Woodridge.

Ray White South Australia chief auctioneer John Morris said the Ray White Group continued to dominate the auction market in the state.

“There are 53 auctions scheduled throughout South Australia this week, keeping us above the 40 per cent auction market share for the year so far and we are completely dominating the auction space at the moment,” Mr Morris said.

“We’re currently seeing more than eight registered bidders on average at auctions for this week and that means we have a preliminary auction clearance rate of more than 87 per cent.”

26 Tobruk Ave, Kensington Park (pictured above)

• Sold for $1.905 million - the reserve was $1.7 million

• 10 registered bidders and six active bidders

• Agents: Brandon Pilgrim and Damien Fong

• Ray White Burnside

• Auctioneer: Sam Grover, Ray White

“The buyer was a local looking to build a new property on the site for his family,” Mr Pilgrim said.

“Buyers were a mixture of renovators, buyers looking to build and a couple of developers who saw an opportunity.

“It has a good, character bungalow on the block that was considered as something that could be used in a renovation but it wasn’t a house you could live in in its current state. But it’s a fantastic spot in a really nice part of Adelaide.

“It’s a really good family area and just down the road from the parklands.”

18 Cheringar Bvd, Dernancourt

• Sold for $890,000 - the reserve was $850,000

• Seven registered bidders and active bidders

• Agents: Nick Borrelli and Nik Ilic

• Ray White Campbelltown

“The buyer had been looking for close to two years. They are first time owner occupiers,” Mr Borrelli said.

“The auction was fairly fast, it started at $700,000 and went up into the low $800,000s fairly quickly, then from there it was down to just three bidders.

“The under bidders were a young family looking for their first home, the other bidder was downsizing. Everyone else were young couples.

“We had a lot of families looking at the home during the campaign, they were upsizing or looking for their first family home.

“It has good bones, a couple of living areas and on a full size block in a nice area so those were the big draw cards. It’s also something you can renovate over time but it doesn’t have to happen right away.”