Online offer management system Market Buy has reported solid sales trends across the country, with properties selling for up to $29,500 more in the June quarter compared to its March counterpart.
Chief Digital Strategist John Hellaby said the company had a unique view of how the market was tracking across the country through measuring the difference between the first offer and the final sale price on properties sold on the platform.
“What Market Buy gives us in terms of data is something we’ve never had before, the ability to get inside the sale itself and collect data on things like buyer activity and real intent,” Mr Hellaby explained.
Other key indicators include the average number of buyers for each property and the number of active days on market, which is the total number of days a property is live on the site and available for purchase.
“First to last results are defined as the difference between the first offer made and the accepted offer, that is, the amount the property was sold for,” Mr Hellaby said.
“And as each buyer needs to be registered we can tell with greater certainty how much competition is really out there for each property.
“When we’re talking about buyers, we’re not talking about people coming through the home, we’re talking about registered buyers, people who have registered to be able to purchase the property by making offers through the Market Buy system.
“So these are highly qualified, active, engaged purchasers.”
VIC trends
Despite mainstream media creating uncertainty about the market dropping with buyers fleeing interstate, there appears to be a significant increase in aggression to buy in those remaining in Victoria.
Between the March and June quarters, Victorian buyers were prepared to pay, on average, $8,400 more for a property.
The Market Buy data shows the first offer to final sale price figures climbed from an average $62,644 to $71,061.
Despite the fears surrounding population migration, there were actually more buyers per property in the June quarter, rising from 7.79 to 9.81.
However the active days on market showed a slight increase and the total number of offers made fell slightly from an average 20.9 to 20.61.
“There’s a lot of data talking about how people are leaving Victoria at the moment, but Victoria is definitely not done by any stretch of the imagination,” Mr Hellaby said.
“What we can see in Victoria is that there are slightly more buyers in the market demonstrating intent and while the number of offers per sale are down, this is likely due to the significant increase in offer value during the sale.”
QLD trends
Across the Market Buy platform Queensland properties sold for almost $5000 more in the June quarter compared to the March quarter, with the average between the opening offer and the selling price coming in at $60,125.27.
But overall, there was a slight decline in buyers and total offers.
“On average, there was one less buyer this quarter than last,” Mr Hellaby said.
“We’ve seen a drop in offers. There’s, on average 20.69 offers, so that’s a drop of four offers per property.
“So what that saying is, yes there are less buyers in the marketplace, but they’re competing more actively, they’re more in the fight to secure a property, and they’re willing to spend more.
“So they’re more aggressive.”
NSW trends
Buyers in NSW were also prepared to put their hands deeper into their pockets, with the first offer to final sale price difference increasing by $7,613 on average.
In the first quarter, there was an average rise of $61,820 between the first offer and the final selling price of a property.
In the June quarter this rose to $69,433.
Mr Hellaby noted the active days on market increased by about 3.5 days and the number of buyers fell from 9.45 to 7.93 on average.
The second quarter also saw fewer offers. The first quarter had an average of 16.3 offers, while the second quarter lowered to 15.8.
“In quarter two, once again, buyers dropped off a little bit, offers dropped off a little bit and our active days on market expanded or increased,” Mr Hellaby said.
“That’s a significant increase, 4.31 to 7.86, but when we’re talking less than eight days on market, that’s pretty phenomenal.
“But again, the big one was a nearly $8000 increase in the first to last (offer).
“Yes, there are less buyers. Yes, it’s taking a little bit longer. Yes there are less offers, but they’re more willing to spend the money and they’re more aggressive.”
WA trends
Mr Hellaby said it was fantastic to see some awesome results throughout the Western Australian market.
“The market in WA has been a really hard slog for a good 10 years or so,” he said.
“So to see them start to really come out of that and gain some solid traction is exciting for us.
There’s a lot of really good people in WA and really good agents in WA that we’ve helped and tried to support and cheer on in the toughest conditions over the last decade or so, so to see these numbers, for us, it’s fantastic.”
The state’s first offer to final sale result showed a staggering improvement, from $58,236.38 in the first quarter to $87,481.41 in the second quarter.
“We definitely weren’t expecting it in WA, but we were always hoping to see a big uptick over there… Such a massive jump is definitely surprising,” Mr Hellaby said.
“Prior to 2021, the lifetime average first to last offer difference was just $28,949. So to see such massive jumps in offers and activity is awesome and something we’re really excited about for our friends in WA,” Mr Hellaby told Elite Agent.
While the buyers dropped slightly between the first and second quarter (8.46 to 7.81), there was an average of just under four more offers per property.
In quarter one, there was an average of 9.59 offers, while quarter two saw significant growth, up to 13.19 average offers.
The active days on market also decreased from 8.92 to 7.14.
Mr Hellaby explained that although many agents are reporting fewer buyers in the market, those who are present are very active in the marketplace.
“Buyers are aggressive and determined to secure property at the present point in time and I think that’s what is being missed,” he said.
“Auction clearance rates aren’t able to truly show what is happening inside the sale and buyer intent.
“That said, all this can change on a dime – which is half the fun of working with the live data from inside the sale.”
