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Bumper crowds at auctions and open for inspections were the norm across Australia as Ray White cleared 74 per cent of its 387 auctions across the country today.

Ray White data shows a 24 per cent increase in buyers attending open homes since January 1, compared to the prior year. On average auction crowds reached 60 people nationally today, some 10 per cent higher than last January.

One of the country’s best agents. Matt Lancashire of Ray White Collective in New Farm said this had been the most active start to a year he’d ever seen in his career.

“Demand for Casa Espri on Hamilton Hill has been crazy. GRAYA’s insanely luxurious recently-completed mansion drew 257 buyers through its doors during its initial open home last weekend. In the first two days of hitting the market, we received 76 online enquiries and more than 300 social media enquiries, which is unprecedented. It was also the most viewed property in Australia this week.” This campaign closes on Friday, February 23 but the owner wants a solid contract price before this closed date.

The standout auction sale today was in Sydney’s Upper North Shore where Liana Power (pictured) sold 35 Chisholm St, Turramurra for $2.880 million.

Meanwhile on Brisbane’s southside , a whopping 28 registered bidders vied for the federation home at 7 Cotswold Place, Wishart which Ray White Mt Gravatt sales agent James Austin sold for $1.602 million.

Market watchers are all keenly awaiting the outcome of the RBA’s first board meeting for 2024 this coming Tuesday.

Nerida Conisbee, Ray White Group Chief Economist, said there was a distinct change to the interest rate outlook at the end of last year.

“In early December there was a view that we were in for at least one more rate rise. In mid-December however, a sharp drop in US inflation, followed by the suggestion by the US Federal Reserve that rates could be cut three times in 2024 led to a change in sentiment in Australia. By the end of December, markets were pricing in two rate cuts for Australia in 2024.”

A further driver of downward pressure on rates is December inflation which came in at 4 per cent for the year, a significant decline from the September quarter result of 5.4 per cent. The quarterly decline was the lowest it has been since March 2021.

Ray White New South Wales State Auctioneer Perry Edmondson-Clark said the first Saturday of February did not disappoint with 153 scheduled auctions today alone. “Both Ray White Canberra and Ray White TKG - Grafton are both running large in-room events. Weekend auction volume is up 30 per cent, compared to the first weekend in February 2023. Auctions must remain the preferred method of sale, today demonstrated on multiple occasions that with competition created by auction our sellers have been rewarded with the market's best price.”

35 Chisholm St, Turramurra

  • 6 registered bidders, 3 active bidders

  • Sold under the hammer for $2.880 million

  • Lead agent - Liana Power 0403 691 747

  • Ray White Upper North Shore

  • Auctioneer: Jason Keen

In front of 100 people in the crowd, this four bedroom home sold for $2.88 million to a local business owner.

Ms Power said a traditional auction campaign was four weeks, but this property was brought to auction in its second week, due to such high buyer demand.

“Due to high interest the auction was brought forward by two weeks as we had 150 groups through the property and had issued 41 contracts,” Ms Power said.

“The buyers today were locals and the sellers are over the moon. They have lived there for 25 years and their kids have grown and they are now having a change of scenery and moving to the Central Coast.”

3/178 Glenmore Road, Paddington

  • 7 registered bidders, 5 active bidders

  • Sold under the hammer for $840,000

  • Lead agent - Josh Kalocsay - 0402 187 893

  • Ray White Eastern Beaches

  • Auctioneer: James Kerley, Ray White


Mr Kalocsay said the unit was extremely popular with very busy open homes recorded in January. “This unit has been very busy. It was the first home buyer who won the keys today. The seller had owned it for 19 years, it was an investment property for this family and they are happy with the result,” he said.

5/102 Alison Road, Randwick

  • 7 registered bidders

  • Sold under the hammer for $1.450 million

  • Lead agent - Angus Gorrie - 0418 282 853

  • Ray White Eastern Beaches

  • Auctioneer; James Hayashi, Ray White

3/70 Birriga Rd, Bellevue Hill

  • 2 registered bidders

  • Sold under the hammer for $1.395 million

  • Lead agent - Angus Gorrie - 0418 282 853

  • Ray White Eastern Beaches

  • Auctioneer; James Hayashi, Ray White

In the capital, Ray White Canberra sold $30 million worth of property at its ‘Summer Showcase Auction Event” where 57 properties were presented for sale under the hammer.

Ray White Canberra auctioneers Troy Reddick and Alec Brown captivated the huge crowd at the Hyatt Hotel during the five-hour long event.

The auction agents cleared 61 per cent of the 57 properties unconditionally under the hammer, with a whopping 126 registered bidders in total. There’s quite a few more still in negotiations and will be sold soon.

The top sale of the day was 633 Wallaroo Road, Wallaroo which sold for $2.870 million. Ray White Canberra marketing agent Mark Johnstone sold this historic rural lifestyle property. He said that back in 1882 when the early settlers of Hall region arrived, of course they selected the best possible location to build their family home, Allwood.

“Believe it or not, the two original slab cottages that David & Agnes Rule raised their 8 children in, still stand on the property and have also been lovingly restored by the current owners. For a bit of fun, you could be enjoying your weekend family barbecues or entertaining friends within an amazing nostalgic setting.”

Ray White Victoria Chief Auctioneer Jeremy Tyrell said that as auction volume began to increase for most agencies across the state, Ray White’s Victorian and Tasmanian network was already deep into the new real estate year with a record breaking 300 auctions scheduled in the month of January.

“Even more exciting to report on is the state of the market, with high buyer attendance across most open homes and strong bidder competition at auction. Overall, it was a great start to the year with the clearance rate at 67 per cent,” he said.

“Continuing with this momentum, the Ray White Victoria network had 231 auctions scheduled for the week with a very strong preliminary clearance rate of 74 per cent.

“The market is showing very positive signs and should provide plenty of confidence for both buyers and sellers, especially with reports of inflation falling and a potentially bright outlook for interest rates moving forward.”

13 Stainsby Cres, Roxburgh Park

  • 7 registered bidders, 6 active

  • Sold under the hammer $802,000

  • Lead agent/auctioneer: Steph Shepherdson - 0400 451 400

  • Ray White Craigieburn

Ray White Collective auctioneer and principal Haesley Cush said he was on 100 per cent clearance rate with 16/16 properties sold since the start of 2024.

“Buyer demand is through the roof and it’s on both sides of the river and from one bedroom units to prestige homes,” Mr Cush said.

“I am seeing 40-50 groups attend inspections for one and two bedroom units in Brisbane.

“We had 10 registered bidders across two houses today, so we have 18 buyers who are ready to buy.

"The banks are reducing both fixed rates and variable rate mortgages so they know the next move will be down. The economy has stabilised with inflation easing and the market is roaring.”

82 Smallman St, Bulimba

  • 10 registered bidders, 3 active bidders

  • Sold under the hammer for $1.415 million

  • Lead agent: Zita Durand - 0439 272 427

  • Ray White New Farm

  • Auctioneer: Haesley Cush, Ray White

On a hot summer’s day in Brisbane, Ms Durand was handing out frozen Super Doopers to the large crowd to keep cool! “January has been crazy with buyers out in force,” she said.

“We had 45 groups through this house in its first weekend. January has been so busy, we even had opens over Australia Day long weekend and historically we would normally avoid that. My sellers are very happy, they are looking to upsize in the same area. And our first home buyers (pictured above) are just ecstatic, they have been looking for a while.”

2 Lemnos St, Nundah

  • 10 registered bidders

  • Sold under the hammer for $1.339 million

  • Lead agent: Nicholas Given - 0439 193 920

  • Ray White Clayfield

  • Auctioneer: Haesley Cush, Ray White

7 Coolalie St, Alderley

  • 11 registered bidders, 5 active bidders

  • Sold under the hammer for $1.3 million

  • Lead agent: Jessie Hall - 0422 169 981

  • Ray White Wilston

  • Auctioneer: Phil Parker, Ray White

Ms Hall said it was a good contest today between a lot of builders and family home buyers. “There’s still not a lot of property available yet and buyers haven't had anything good to look at for a long time so we had 85 groups though this house which is huge for January.” A local couple who live in a unit won the keys today to their first house purchase, she said.

13 Tanglin St, Crestmead

  • 7 active bidders

  • Sold under the hammer for $771,000

  • Lead agent: Cory Boyd 0466 275 233

  • Ray White Marsden

Mr Boyd said this was a record price for a single dwelling house. “The house was purchased four years ago for $370,000 and sold today with seven bidders fighting for it,” Mr Boyd said.

“We are ecstatic for the owner. We are delighted to create competition and achieve another suburb record in Crestmead.

“Yes the market is doing well but we can say to all the owners in Logan, your property is worth more with Ray White Marsden.”

5/26-28 William St, Prospect

  • 10 registered bidders, 4 active

  • Sold under the hammer for $720,000

  • Lead agent : Reece Pilgrim - 0437 776 409

  • Auctioneer: Sam Grover, Ray White

“Buyer activity has certainly ramped up early this year with plenty of people out and about at open homes. I am seeing lots of people are back out looking and plenty of new faces too,” Mr Pilgrim said. “My sellers are stoked here (pictured above), and the new owner is a first home buyer who has been looking for a while. This is a great auction result, trust the process, it works.”

5 Nungamoora St, Hallett Cove

  • 13 registered bidders, 5 active

  • Sold under the hammer for $710,000

  • Lead agent: Jordan McMahon - 0421 463 875

  • Ray White Glenelg auctioneer Rod Smitheram

Mr McMahon said that more than half of the 13 registered bidders he had never even met before that day. “That’s the interesting thing here. The buyers just came. It was crazy. This is a knock down rebuild house or a massive renovation project for someone. It’s a great result and it was also quite unexpected. The auctioneer Rod put on a great show for the crowd of at least 50 people. He’s like a tap dancer who loves the floor show.”

36 Trellios Street, Modbury

  • 18 registered bidders, 6 active

  • Sold under the hammer for $750,000

  • Lead agent: Vanessa Bianco - 0426 031 255

  • Ray White Norwood

Ms Bianco said she trialed holding at 8:30 am open home today. “And I got smashed! There’s so many buyers out looking right now. Over the three weeks I had 115 open attendees, that is huge. There’s a lot of local families and emotional first home buyers and a few investors. All of the 18 bidders today were local,” Ms Bianco said.

“The winning bidders (pictured above) are a young family relocating from Burton to be closer in. The buyer was emotional and she was adamant she was going to own the house from the first inspection. The sun was out and there was a big crowd of neighbours watching on.”

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