Biggest auction weekend of the year

It was Ray White’s biggest auction Saturday so far this year, with 605 auctions scheduled across the country today as we head towards Easter.

Australasia’s largest real estate group recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 73.7 per cent, with an average of 4.2 registered bidders and 2.7 active bidders per auction.

Auctions continue to provide the best results for sellers, with properties sold under the hammer today achieving prices an average of 11.1 per cent higher than the highest offer received prior to auction.

The top result for the day went to Ray White Balwyn agent Helen Yan who sold 5 Ellendale Street, Balwyn North under the hammer for $4.595 million.

The auction with the highest number of registered bidders was at 16 Corio Road, Prairiewood, which recorded 24 registered bidders and four active bidders. The property sold under the hammer for $1.521 million, a great result for the vendor and Ray White Wetherill Park listing agents Patrick Jerji and Danny Warda.

SYDNEY

Ray White New South Wales state auctioneer Perry Edmondson-Clark said buyers were out in force ahead of Easter.

“Across 176 scheduled auctions today buyers were racing to secure properties across the Australian Grand Prix weekend,” he said.

“As with precious weeks, A-grade stock remains the pick for buyers really stretching to secure the top properties on the market in each respective marketplace.

“Early data shows another strong weekend for clearance and a continued steady number of registered and active bidders.”

42 Carlyle Road, East Lindfield

• Sold under the hammer $3.22 million

• Lead agent: Jessica Cao - 0466 877 260

• Ray White Upper North Shore

• Four registered bidders, four active

Ms Cao said the sellers had lived in the home for 26 years and were now downsizing.

“The buyers were a family who had recently sold in the area and were upsizing,” she said.

“It’s a beautiful home and backs onto the bush. You can see the middle harbour through the bush and it's so peaceful and quiet.

“It has a lot of entertainment areas and indoor outdoor flow.”

17 King Street, Eastlakes

• Sold under the hammer $2.31 million

• Lead agent: Roger Wardy - 0481 355 493

• Ray White Touma Group

• Eight registered bidders, four active

Mr Wardy said the sellers were relocating to the North Shore.

“The winning bid went to a young family (pictured above) who were upsizing from a neighbouring suburb,” he said.

“Most of our bidders were young families, plus one developer.

“It was a family oriented home on a good part of the street.

“It's a good area with lots of young families, a young vibrant community.

323/268 Pitt Street, Waterloo

• Sold under the hammer for $1.35 million

• Lead agent: Renee Cross - 0413 764 566

• Ray White Elizabeth Bay

• 10 registered bidders, 6 active

“Six of our bidders were young professional couples who were first home buyers, but then a young family with one child landed the winning bid,” Ms Cross said.

“The sellers had bought the home 10 years ago and have since had two children and upsized on the North Shore.

“It was a very good property. The campaign was strong with more than 100 people through three open homes.

“It was the location, and the building is very reputable. It had been renovated and had lots of light.

“I think it was the best apartment for sale in Waterloo at the moment.”

8 Hawkins Street, Artarmon

• Sold under the hammer for $2.66 million

• Lead agent: Jessica Cao - 0466 877 260

• Ray White Upper North Shore

• 12 registered bidders, five active

“The winning bid actually went to a local investor, but most of the bidders were young families,” Ms Cao said.

“The sellers (pictured above with cat Xara) were a family who were upsizing.”

10 Myall Street, Oatley

• Sold under the hammer for $1.721 million

• Lead agent: Matt Brooks - 0431 054 283

• Ray White Georges River | St George | Oatley

• Three registered bidders, three active

“The winning bid went to a young couple of first home buyers (pictured above) and the sellers were a family looking to upsize and move north,” Mr Brooks said.

“It was unique, a villa style home with no strata fees. It was a low maintenance modern home.

“The market has been really good. There’s plenty of buyers out there, but stock coming to the market has been a bit light across the board, maybe 10 per cent less that what we’d expect coming up to Easter.

“But overall we’re finding on the south side of Sydney things are going pretty well.”

3 Parnell Street, East Killara

• Sold under the hammer for $2.81 million

• Lead agent: Jessica Cao - 0466 877 260

• Ray White Upper North Shore

• Four registered bidders, four active

“The winning bid went to a young family (buyer pictured above), while the sellers had raised their son in the home and were now downsizing,” Ms Cao said.

“It was a really nice architecturally designed home. It was airy and light with lots of windows. It was really well maintained. It has a pool and a lovely backyard on a quiet street.”

MELBOURNE

Ray White Victoria and Tasmania chief auctioneer Jeremy Tyrrell said today marked the first “Super Saturday” of 2024.

“This week marks a couple of big milestones for Ray White Victoria, with the volume of scheduled auctions surpassing 300 for the first time since we burst out of COVID lockdowns in December 2021, and the highest week of auction volume in just over two years!” he said.

“With the Easter break upon us, the first quarter of 2024 has been one of the busiest periods on record and now rivals the peak of any spring selling season.

“This week, the Ray White network across the state had 313 auctions scheduled, with events occurring mid-week, during the day, at twilight hours and across the entire weekend.

“New listings surged by more than 40 per cent, with seller confidence high off the back of high buyer attendance at open homes and strong clearance rates across the board.

“This week, buyers were out in force to pick up their dream home before the holiday break, with the overall clearance rate just over 78 per cent.

“The market is set to take a little break while the Easter Bunny runs around town, however, we expect volume to pick up and continue to build post Easter.”

5 Ellendale Street, Balwyn North

• Sold under the hammer for $4.595 million - $795,000 over reserve

• Lead agent: Helen Yan - 0404 078 588

• Ray White Balwyn

• Four bidders

• Auctioneer: Jeremy Tyrrell, Ray White

“The buyers were a family moving into the area,” Ms Yan said.

“The sellers were a family who lived there for three years, it was brand new when they moved, they had the home built for themselves.

“It's very modern and unique, there’s nothing like it in this area.”

6 Turakina Ave, Edithvale

• Sold under the hammer for $3.265 million - $165,000 over reserve.

• Lead agent: Shane O’Sughrue - 0401 119 911

• Ray White Chelsea

• Four bidders

Mr O’Sughrue said the home was in the seller’s family for 40 years.

“The winning bid went to a local family who intend to knock down and rebuild and then live in it,” Mr O’Sughrue said.

“We had a mix of buyers, the underbidder had planned to move in and renovate.

“It’s so rare to get a beach front property from backdoor to sand, they don’t come on the market often.”

15 Little Boy Rise, Endeavour Hills

• Sold under the hammer for $1.098 million - $138,000 over reserve

• Lead agent: Burak Gul - 0423 887 771

• Ray White Dandenong

• Eight registered bidders, five active

Mr Gul said he had 68 inspections throughout the campaign.

“The winning bid went to a second home buyer upsizing from a property he bought from us four years back,” he said.

“The vendors had owned the home since 1984 and are now downsizing to a smaller home.”

24 Fern Street, Sunshine West

• Sold under the hammer for $715,000 - $55,000 over reserve

• Lead agent/auctioneer: Marcus Fregnoese - 0432 732 495

• Ray White Sunshine

• Four bidders, two active

“The buyers (pictured above) are a local couple of first home buyers,” Mr Fregnoese said.

“The sellers also bought this as their first home and are now upsizing. They were sad to leave their neighbours.

“The market is really buoyant. For properties that are turnkey like this one they’re going very well.”

21 Madigan Drive, Glen Waverley

• Sold under the hammer for $1.811 million - $261,000 over reserve

• Lead agent: Darryl Wickham - 0410 554 779

• Ray White Glen Waverley

• Nine bidders, nine active

• Auctioneer: Andrew Davies, Ray White

“The winning bid went to a young couple looking for a family home, they have family moving over from overseas, while the seller was downsizing and moving closer to family,” Mr Wickham said.

“All our bidders were young families wanting to be in the good school zones. It’s a perfect family home in a family location.”

2/52 Tulip Grove, Cheltenham

• Sold under the hammer for $870,000

• Lead agent/auctioneer: Kevin Chokshi - 0430 195 517

• Ray White Cheltenham

• Six active bidders

Mr Chokshi said buyers were a mix of first home buyers and downsizers, with the winning bid going to a first home buyer.

“The sellers were a young family who bought it as their first home. They have since upsized and had been renting it for the past few years,” he said.

“The market has been pretty good. There seems to be a level of urgency to buy before rates go down because the consensus is the prices will go up.

“There’s definitely an air of confidence in the market at the moment.

“Well presented properties are still fetching premiums.”

BRISBANE

Ray White Queensland chief auctioneer Gavin Croft said auction volumes continued to rise.

“The market remains buoyant and the energy around the auction process is very good,” Mr Croft said.

“Any properties that aren’t selling it’s very clear it’s where the vendor’s expectations are higher than the market.

“Buyers are bidding to their capacity and what they believe is fair.”

32 Bowral Street, Alderley

• Sold under the hammer for - $1.4 million

• Lead agent: Janine McDonald - 0419 720 683 (pictured above left with the seller’s niece, the seller, and the buyers).

• Ray White Alderley

• Eight registered bidders, four active

• Auctioneer: Benson Spong, Ray White

Ms McDonald said bidders were a mix of first home buyers and some people looking to upsize from apartments.

“We sold it to a young couple of first home buyers who had been looking for six months all over Brisbane,” Ms McDonald said.

“They were very excited to have finally secured something, everyone was crying from excitement!

“The seller is moving to Melbourne to be closer to family. She had lived in the home for 21 years.”

2/3 Welsby Street , New Farm

• Sold under the hammer for $880,000

• Lead agent: Eadan Hockings

• Ray White New Farm

• Five registered, four active

• Auctioneer: Haesley Cush, Ray White

The sellers were a young couple who purchased the home before they had a family. They have now had a child with another on the way and are looking to upsize. The buyers were a young couple first home buyer.

“There was a really wide spread of buyers, couples, FHB, downsizers, investors. empty nesters,” Mr Cush said.

“Because it was a ground-floor apartment in a great location right across the road from Coles, it suited a broad range of people.

“The unit market is on fire which is reflected in this sale.

“There’s no new stock being marketed, so there’s nowhere for buyers to go except the existing units. Developers aren't looking to build because of the construction costs.

“The Brisbane unit market has sat flat for a decade, but now it represents value and buyers are seeing that. In 30 years I haven't seen the unit market this hot in Brisbane.”

ADELAIDE

Ray White South Australia and Northern Territory chief auctioneer John Morris said with only a handful of auctions happening next weekend, this was effectively the end of “mad March” in South Australia.

“We are ending it with a bang!” Mr Morris said.

“We’ve got the busiest weekend of auctions since the same weekend in 2022. So in two years its the busiest weekend we’ve had with almost 200 auctions scheduled around the state, with a 43 per cent for Ray White.

“Bidder numbers remain extremely strong, with an average of 7.3 registered bidders throughout March which has dropped slightly this week.

“Clearance rates have stayed really strong, above 80 per cent for the whole of March, which is including this week as well.

“It looks like we’re going to finish March with an extremely strong auction market, and I can’t see that going anywhere at the moment. South Australia does seem to be going from strength to strength.”

Mr Morris wanted to give a special shout out to Ray White Salisbury who sold 6/6 auctions today.

“The team have had a cracking week of auctions starting on Wednesday this week, with all nine auctions exceeding expectations with an average of about five registered bidders per auctions,” he said.

45 Flinders Street, Edwardstown

• Sold under the hammer for $870,000

• Lead agent: Brett Brook - 0413 664 434

• Ray White Unley

• 16 registered bidders, five active

“We had 16 registered bidders, but the second bid went straight to $740,000 which knocked a lot of people out of the park straight away,” Mr Brook said.

“The buyers were a local family who actually knew the owner so it was quite a heartfelt auction. It had been in the seller’s family since 1973.

“Those midcentury houses hold a lot of appeal and nothing had been renovated, but it had been quite well maintained. People could buy it and add value.

“It was also close to Castle Plaza shopping centre and the train station.

“Buyers were a mix between first home buyers, renovators, investors, and a couple of developers.”

25 Essex Street, Woodville Gardens

• Sold under the hammer for $905,000 - $90,000 over reserve

• Lead agent: Reece Pilgrim

• Ray White Norwood

• 10 registered bidders, five active

• Auctioneer: Sam Grover, Ray White

“The buyer rocked up 15 minutes late as we were about to drop the hammer, he placed one bid and took it out,” Mr Pilgrim said.

“He had missed out on another Ray White auction earlier that day. He was purchasing on behalf of a friend.

“We had a mix of people looking to occupy and looking to invest. It was a reasonable sized block and a big home internally. “