With the footy finals out of the way, property buyers across the nation were out in force over the weekend, pushing the auction clearance rate straight back up to pre-finals levels.
Sydney’s preliminary clearance rate surged back above 80 to finish at 82.3 per cent, while Melbourne was equally strong at 76.7 per cent, according to the latest CoreLogic data.
There were 2017 homes taken to auction across the combined capital cities this week, up from 1324 over the previous week. With the nationwide preliminary clearance rate coming in at 77.3 per cent.
Stu Benson (NSW)
Despite some mixed weather across Sydney, Stu Benson saw good results in all types of properties on the weekend.
“Rainy weather usually means light crowds, but there were plenty of spectators out and about this wet weekend in Sydney – another reflection of just how piqued the interest is in the transaction of real estate.
“Up in the North West, there were strong results across every facet of the spectrum, from land to apartments, entry-level houses, established property all the way through to acreage. Whilst genuine buyer numbers do thin out as the price ascends, it feels as if every part of the market is well and truly ‘activated’.
“Lending hurdles seem to be the only ‘hand-break’ I’m experiencing. Whilst rates are low, it’s not an automatic precursor to approval. Agents need to get the finance conversation happening ASAP with their buyers so as to avoid the dreaded 5pm Friday phone call. You know the one!”
Alec Brown (Canberra)
It was another solid week in Canberra, with a good clearance rate with confidence clearly returning.
“Besides the fact that it was a little chilly out there, their auction results were very strong. We had a total of 11 auctions, with eight sold for a 73 per cent clearance rate, which was pretty indicative of the wider market.
“We had a reported 71 per cent in Canberra and volumes are certainly headed towards the peak of what we see for the year. That’s likely to culminate in a few weeks time, where we’re going to see those ‘Super Saturday’ type levels.
“A real positive has been that bidder numbers are through the roof right now, thanks to the fact that access to lending has gotten a lot of people back in. Clearly people are starting to get their skates on ahead of the end of the year.”
David Holmes (QLD/Canberra)
David oversaw some strong results in both the ACT and Queensland.
“We had a successful week in both Canberra and the Gold Coast, with a large number of bidders and a strong clearance rate across the two regions.
“There were multiple bidders and strong, active bidding, and importantly a good number of auctions being booked in for November, so that’s looking really strong.”
Gavin Croft (Sydney)
BresicWhitney had another solid weekend in Sydney with their clearance rate once again well ahead of the Sydney average.
“Of the 12 BresicWhitney auctions booked this week, 11 sold giving a weekly auction clearance rate of 92 per cent with an average of four registered bidders per auction.
“Over the course of the year, BW has conducted 445 auctions, 358 have sold on or before auction day giving a YTD auction clearance of 80 per cent.”
Off to the auctioneering championships
Meanwhile, some of our expert commentators will be showcasing their skills at the Australasian Auctioneering Competition coming up in Victoria next week.
Among the contenders will be Alec Brown and David Holmes, who along with Justin Nickerson, are busy preparing.
“A lot of the work has already been done, so now it’s just about getting things like the property description down pat and getting in the zone, before making the journey down next Tuesday for the draw,” Alec said
“Hopefully I’m not first up because no one likes that in an auction competition.”
David noted he felt the preparations had been going well.
“You spend a lot of time working with the numbers and making sure your knowledge of the other things like your contractual understanding are en pointe,” he reflected.
“Then there is just a lot of practice on things like mock auctions. I try to do a lot of real-time practice and prep for a number of hours every week. It’s also good to have good situational humour and have the procedure down.
“The competition process is effectively the same action 17 times and there is a focus on the procedure and hitting all the trigger points. It’s a great way to see the very best people at the craft.”
