Buyers up the ante

Ray White NSW | ACT state auctioneer Perry Edmondson-Clark said it was a lighter weekend of auction volume across New South Wales today.

“With school holidays in full swing, the Ray White Group had 77 auctions scheduled across the day but while there may be a lower number of auctions today buyers were out in force,” Mr Edmondson-Clark said.

“The market is presenting itself on auction day and despite uncertainty around interest rates buyers remain active with today’s data showing five bidders on average across our auctions with a strong appetite to purchase.”

23 Hughes Ave, Castle Hill

• Sold $2.81 million

• Five registered bidders and three active bidders

• Agents: Matthew Langdon and Angela Xu

• Ray White Castle Hill

“The property was sold with a lease in place so all the buyers were investors and the seller was also an investor,” Mr Langdon said.

“The house is in close proximity to the metro station which is what a lot of people want and it sold well above reserve.

“We don’t have enough stock at the moment. If I had three more listings like this then I would have made three more sales today.

“There’s a lot of confidence from buyers and with the metro opening up to Barangaroo it has a lot of buyers talking.”

139 Adelaide St, St Marys

• Sold for $1.96 million

• 12 registered and six active bidders

• Agents: Meshel Bahnam and Peter Diamantidis

• Ray White Diamantidis Group

• Auctioneer: Alex Pattaro, Ray White

“The property sold $110,000 above reserve and hit a suburb record for a single storey, four bedroom home in St Marys,” Mr Bahnam said.

“The buyers own another property in the area and are developers/investors. It was basically all developers and investors on this one as it’s a development block and one of the last big 1,400sqm plus blocks in St Marys.

“Enquiries were through the roof during the campaign, I was getting at least five to six a day because there’s so much potential for different developments.”

6/14 McCulloch Rd, Blacktown

• Sold for $800,000

• Three registered and active bidders

• Agent: Taylor Bredin - 0430 169 625

• Ray White Quakers Hill - Tesolin Group

• Auctioneer: James Kerley, Ray White

“The person who bought it used to live in the complex, it was the first property they ever lived in and they bought the villa overlooking their auntie’s house,” Mr Bredin said.

“This is their first home and they were so excited because they had been looking for the past 10 months and finally found their dream property.

“We had 30 unique inspections and three registered bidders at the auction. Ninety per cent of the buyers we had through were first home buyers while the other 10 per cent were downsizers.

“The villa is low maintenance and in a good location in Blacktown, within walking distance to the local shopping centre, schools, parks and public transport. This really stood out for buyers.

“The auction started strong at $700,000 before rocketing up to $790,000 then the eventual sale price, which was above the reserve.”

Ray White Victoria and Tasmania chief auctioneer Jeremy Tyrrell said sales at auction continued to dominate the real estate landscape with the clearance rate above 66 per cent across the 206 scheduled auctions around Victoria this week.

“Buyers turned up in force with strong attendances reported and more than two active bidders on average across the board, ensuring good competitive conditions for sellers,” Mr Tyrrell said.

“To reinforce the dominance of sale by auction, when comparing days on market for auction versus private sale over the past thirty days, auction has proved more efficient at 29 days versus 43.5 for private treaty sales.

“Not only that, but this week we’ve seen auction sales achieving a sold price of nearly six per cent on average more than the best offer made during a campaign. This also reinforces the power of selling in a transparent competitive environment.”

17 Vista Ave, Ringwood East

• Sold for $1.805 million

• Five bidders

• Agents: Peter Schenck and Chris Smout

• Ray White Blackburn

“It was all families looking at this property. The trees are protected here so you can’t develop. It’s a great family area, very leafy and well established,” Mr Schenck said.

“This is the first time the home has been offered since the 1970’s.

“The buyers were from Croydon, they are upsizing into something bigger and want more land.

“One of the underbidders was a guy from the UK, his brother was bidding for him while he was on the phone but he missed out.

“It was called on the market at $1.71 million.”

4 Duggan St, Brunswick West

• Sold for $1,495,500 - the reserve was $1.25 million

• Eight registered and six active bidders

• Agents: Jamil Allouche and Belinda Rabar

• Ray White Brunswick

“The buyer was an interstate investor, the rest were owner occupiers, young families and a couple of downsizers, there was a bit of depth in the bidding which started at $1.15 million,” Mr Allouche said.

“It’s a very neat, Californian bungalow on a reasonable size block with a gorgeous entertainment area. It’s also been meticulously maintained.

“The sellers have bought locally and are moving, they’ve lived there for over 20 years and are well entrenched in the local community.”

4/12 Market St, West Footscray

• Sold for $622,000

• Four registered and two active bidders

• Agents: Marcus Fregonese and Alejandro Torres

• Ray White Sunshine

“It was a pretty quick and fierce auction, we had four registered bidders but only two got to bid. The buyers were first home owners from Preston who had been looking since November,” Mr Fregonese said.

“All the buyers were first home owners. The property is entry level into the area and in a great location.

“We’re finding that homes that don’t need a lot of work are going really well. This property needed a bit of work so the owners invested in new floorboards, new carpet, they did up the backyard and repainted because we knew the buyer would want something move in ready.

“It ended up paying off for them.”

Ray White Queensland chief auctioneer Gavin Croft said low stock volumes continue to be the theme.

“We are still seeing volume slightly back and it appears that theme is going to continue but in good news, we had an average of 7.9 registered bidders last week,” Mr Croft said.

“It’s been really strong in between that one to two million dollar price point at the moment and we’re seeing incredible depth of bidders at the moment while stock levels remain at this particular level.

“There was wonderful energy today but low stock levels will continue to drive this and ideally in May we will start to see that increased choice for buyers that we saw in March.”

Ray White Collective auction event

Ray White Collective took 13 properties to auction at an in-room event at the Calile Hotel on James Street, along with several afternoon on-site auctions. The leading Brisbane group recorded approximately $25 million in sales for the day.

“One of the best sales of the day was a unit at 622/420 Queen St, Brisbane City which sold for $2.45 million,” Ray White Collective principal and chief auctioneer Haesley Cush said.

“It paused for negotiation while the agent asked the underbidder if they would up their bid to $2.45 million, the bidder said they’d flip a coin and if it came up heads then they’d increase their bid - it came up heads and they honoured their word and bought it.

“The rest of the day was strong. We saw family home buyers out in the market which we saw in some of the earlier sales of 62 Philip St, Hawthorne which sold for $2.856 million and 30 The Promenade, Camp Hill selling for $1.84 million. The eastern side of Brisbane is super strong right now.

“Later in the day, Brandon Wortley sold 11 Henderson St, Camp Hill on-site for $3.82 million. Bidding opened at $3 million and it ran really quickly up in $100,000 bids, all the way to $3.7 million, then it was called on the market at $3.8 million, finally going up to the sale price. We had a huge crowd of people there and had two local families bidding against each other.”

60 Vale St, Kelvin Grove

• Sold for $1.598 million

• Seven registered and three active bidders

• Agents: Michael Kleimeyer and Judi O’Dea

• Ray White Paddington

“We had very active bidding from three buyers but it was a Sydney buyer who cast the winning bid,” Mr Kleimeyer said.

“We had an international buyer, several interstate buyers and locals all showing interest during the campaign.”

Ray White South Australia chief auctioneer John Morris said the sun was shining in Adelaide and the buyers were buying.

“Bidders are out in force and it’s looking likely that we’ll have an average of about 10 registered bidders per auction for this week, which is up from last week where we were at about six,” Mr Morris said.

“We had double the amount of auctions this week than what we did last week, however Ray White has retained their spot at the top with well in excess of 40 per cent of all auctions throughout the state flying a yellow flag.

“It’s still an incredibly strong market, nothing seems to be putting a damper on it.”

13 Janet Ave, Glynde

• Sold for $1.355 million - reserve was $1.055 million

• 21 registered bidders and six active bidders

• Agents: David Scalamera and Juan Gaviria

• Ray White Magill

• Auctioneer: Sam Grover, Ray White

“The property was bought by a first home buyer couple. They had been looking for about five years on and off and finally bought something.” Mr Scalamera said.

“We predominantly had young couples looking to buy their first home with a bit of help from mum and dad, young families and then there was a small percentage of investors.

“It was a really well built house from the 60s and has had the same owner for 48 years so it’s absolutely immaculate, looks like a brand new house.

“Basket range homes with stone in front and timber floors are already popular but then add to that the great condition and quality build, it ticked a lot of boxes so people loved it.

“It’s also probably the best street in the suburb.”

10 Hubbe Court, Burnside

• Sold for $2.48 million

• 14 registered and five active bidders

• Agents: Brandon Pilgrim and Damien Fong

• Ray White Norwood

• Auctioneer: George Kargiotis, Ray White

“The buyers were a family looking to get into the area. We mainly had families interested in this property because it’s newly renovated so you can move straight in and it’s on one of the nicer streets in Burnside,” Mr Pilgrim said.

“The sellers are moving to a lifestyle property south of Adelaide on a bit of land. They’re looking for a slower lifestyle.”

Earlier in the day, Mr Pilgrim also sold 31 Wyfield St, Wattle Park for $1.175 million with three active bidders.

24 St Johns St, Adelaide

• Sold for $1 million

• Nine registered and three active bidders

• Agents: Stefan Siciliano and Adam Humzy

• Ray White Prospect

• Auctioneer: John Morris, Ray White

“The auction started at $900,000 and sold $150,000 above reserve. The buyer was a local, his son lives nearby and is going to move into it,” Mr Siciliano said.
“He was literally walking by one day, came to the open and then rolled up and bought it today.

“The sellers have a property out at the Clare Valley, they have moved there full time and this is their last Adelaide investment.

“It’s a really popular pocket of the city. It’s at the east end, close to Victoria Park and extremely quiet.”