Best clearance rate since late 2021

The first weekend of winter brought with it absolutely no sign of its usual cooling auction market, despite the rising interest rate environment.

Australasia’s largest real estate group delivered astonishing clearance results today around the entire country, with 79 per cent of properties selling under the hammer, the best clearance rate since the boom of September 2021.

Bidder numbers were noticeably huge, with 5.4 average registered bidders, and 3.3 average active bidders.

On average, sellers who took their property all the way through to auction day received 12.2 per cent more under the hammer, than if they had accepted the highest offer prior.

The Sydney market appeared to be well and truly thriving today, with an 84 per cent clearance rate at Ray White auctions across the harbour city and an enormous 7.3 registered bidders on average.

A suburb record was smashed in Erskineville, when a four-bedroom terrace home on only 203 sqm sold for $4,200,000 representing $400,000 above reserve. Shaun Stoker from Ray White Surry Hills marketed the property at 32 Malcolm Street.

Agents and auctioneers across the country echoed one key message; with stock levels remaining extremely tight, now is the time for sellers to capitalise on a huge buyer appetite.

Ray White New South Wales chief auctioneer Alex Pattaro said it was an absolutely cracking start to the winter selling months, with the highest clearance since late 2021.

“Competition at auctions is electrifying and should provide sellers with the confidence to transact,” he said.

“The Sydney property market is starting to snowball and is gaining strong momentum. Auction remains the best method of sale to extract the market best, while showing buyers that there are other confident buyers out there, looking to secure a home.”

32 Malcolm Street, Erskineville (pictured above)

• Sold under the hammer for $4,200,000 (reserve was $3,800,000)

• Eight registered bidders, three active

• Lead agent: Shaun Stoker - 0424 172 217

• Auctioneer: James Keenan, Ray White

Shaun Stoker was absolutely thrilled to have smashed the suburb record for Erskineville today which previously sat at $3.7 million.

Mr Stoker said the four-bedroom terrace home on 203 sqm was meticulously renovated by the seller, who purchased it unrenovated two years ago for around the $2 million mark. The 5.5 meter street frontage was also a drawcard, with the average in the suburb sitting around 4 meters.

“This is actually a phenomenal result for the land size; our seller did an amazing job of gutting the property and renovating it beautifully, and she was neatly rewarded today.”

The buyers were a young couple from the eastern suburbs.

“The market is super strong due to tight stock levels; particularly with properties where the work has already been done to a high quality like this,” Mr Stoker said.

38 Robinson St, East Lindfield (buyers pictured with seller in middle)

• Sold under the hammer for $2,295,000 (reserve was $2,100,000)

• Four registered bidders, three active

• Lead agent: Jessica Cao - 0466 877 260

• Ray White Upper North Shore

Ms Cao said the sale of this home was a beautiful handing over to the next generation, with the lucky winning bidders upsizing from the Lower North Shore and wanting some more space.

“The young couple had grown up around here and they are looking forward to getting their daughter into one of the great local schools,” she said.

The sellers, who had bought the home through Jessica around 10 years ago, were having a seachange to the central coast after their children had left the nest.

“The market is running along really nicely, and without a doubt the auction method is the best way to go for sellers and buyers.”

36 Baxter Road, Mascot (pictured above)

• Sold under the hammer for $1,060,000 (reserve was $875,000)

• 11 registered bidders, six active

• Lead agent: Phillip Elmowy - 0425 285 444

• Ray White Maroubra | South Coogee

• Auctioneer: James Kerley, Ray White

Mr Elmowy said the property itself needed a serious renovation or knock down, but it had brilliant potential.

“The buyer was a gentleman who was buying with plans for his university student son to live here,” he said.

“It was a deceased estate sale and it was very bittersweet because it had been in the family since 1961.”

Mr Elmowy said that there was not enough stock, which was fueling the strong prices.

“Everyone just seems to be holding on. We are all interested to see what happens next with interest rates.”

58 Merindah Road, Baulkham Hills (pictured above)

• Sold under the hammer for $1,851,500

• 20 registered bidders, eight active

• Lead Agent: Darren Dowd - 0417 230 695

• Ray White Baulkham Hills

• Auctioneer: Tim Snell, Ray White

Mr Dowd said Baulkham Hills was absolutely thriving at the moment. “We ran a great campaign with plenty of opportunities for buyers to come and have a look and create competition,” he said.

“We had 176 total groups come through the property. It comes down to positioning the property correctly in the market. A lot of families as it is a family home and a handful of investors too.

“The winning bidders were a young couple looking to buy a family home and start a family.

“The seller was living on her own and needed to downsize due to the stairs and maintenance. We are finding the market really strong, it is a sellers market at this point.”

Ray White Victoria chief auctioneer Jeremy Tyrell said the weather forecast in Melbourne for the third day of winter was for grey skies, rain and a top of 16 degrees. The forecast for the real estate sector however was more like blue skies and sunshine as we reached a top auction clearance rate of 74.4 per cent.

“Buyers were once again highly active as the average topped a year high of 3.6 active bidders across all auctions, with close to 9 out of every 10 auctions called receiving bids.

“As winter is upon us in Victoria, market volume is seasonally down, however this is playing well into sellers hands as buyer demand remains strong,” he said.

332 Porter Street, Templestowe (pictured above)

• Sold under the hammer for $1,800,500 (reserve was $1.68 million)

• 10 bidders

• Lead agent: Amir Sharifi - 0410 227 788

• Ray White Manningham

• Auctioneer: Andrew Martin, Ray White

Mr Sharifi said that a key driver for the result, flying past reserve, was the home’s sought-after location.

“There are not enough properties like this on the market around here at the moment, which in turn created a great result for our sellers today,” he said.

“We had over 70 groups through the house and it was a very busy and active campaign,” he said.

The winning bidder was a local family who plan on moving in, and the sellers are relocating to Kew.

26 Devoy Street, Oakleigh South (pictured above)

• Sold under the hammer for $906,000 (reserve was $770,000)

• Nine bidders

• Lead agent: Leigh Kelepouris - 0422 283 480

• Ray White Oakleigh

• Auctioneer: Jonathon Eaves, Ray White

Mr Kelepouris said the sellers are long term clients for Ray White Oakleigh “We sold the property to her in the 90s and she is downsizing to be closer to the kids. She is absolutely over to the moon.”

“The lucky winning bidder was a young couple that we sold for in Rowville a few weeks ago, so we helped them buy a little bit closer to their workplace,” he said.

Mr Kelepouris said the market is quite buoyant at the moment due to lack of stock. “We have really high bidder numbers. Prices are fair; not many auctions are going absolutely crazy but are still yielding good results.”

2/115 Tambet St, Bentleigh East (seller pictured above)

• Sold under the hammer for $1,195,000 (reserve was $1,000,000)

• Four bidders

• Lead agent: Nick Strilakos - 0403 510 712

• Ray White Oakleigh

• Auctioneer: Matthew Condon, Ray White

Mr Strilakos said the auction of this humble brick freestanding townhouse was a thrilling one, achieving a fantastic premium for the vendor.

“Our vendor Barbara is looking at downsizing into the same area after no longer needing the space,” he said.

“The buyer was also a downsizer, who has been in the same house on acreage for over 50 years, with this house being far less maintenance for her lifestyle.”

Mr Strilakos said that the buyers are showing aggression in their approach to bidding, and that his team had a 100 per cent clearance rate today.

“If you are running the process well and quoting accurately, then the properties will sell.”

Ray White Queensland chief auctioneer Gavin Croft said that last week he saw 6.4 registered bidders per auction and a 70 per cent clearance rate.

“I am anticipating an even higher spike in registered bidders this week due to low stock volumes. Everything is indicating that our bidder numbers remain very high,” he said.

“The strength we are seeing in the market is likely to continue here in Brisbane. It has also been a really productive week on the Gold Coast, which has seen about double the auction numbers than Brisbane.

Mr Croft had a marathon in-room auction event on Wednesday which saw 54 properties go under the hammer from Ray White Queensland businesses Tugun | Elanora, Sherwood | Graceville and Coomera, Upper Coomera, Pimpama and Jacobs Well. Some 75 per cent sold under the hammer worth $33 million in total. See the wrap here.

2/16 Wellington Rd, Red Hill (seller and buyer pictured above)

• Sold under the hammer for $1,233,000 (reserve was $1,000,000)

• 22 registered bidders, five active

• Lead agent: Tamara Lee - 0421 767 034

• Ray White Ashgrove

• Auctioneer: Adam Downes, Ray White

The auction of this three-bedroom townhouse was absolutely thrilling, with Ms Lee saying there are a number of factors which drew in the huge bidder numbers and premium on reserve.

“It is one of two townhouses sitting upon 770 sqm of land with two street frontages; it is extremely spacious over four levels with beautiful views,” she said.

The buyer was a local single woman, wanting something that is spacious but without too much maintenance.

“The seller, Eileen, has been in the property since 1997. It is a big journey for her and she is downsizing and is going to live the apartment lifestyle on the river.”

56 Mein Street, Hendra (pictured above)

• Sold under the hammer for $1,780,000

• Three registered bidders, all active

• Lead agent: Chrese Morley - 0412 586 994

• Ray White Ascot

• Auctioneer: David Treloar, Ray White

Ms Morley said the sale of this renovated character home backing onto Eagle Farm racecourse was a “changing of the guards”.

“The sellers are empty nesters now, so they are going to have a seachange to the Sunshine Coast. They very happily raised their children there and there were tears of happiness after the auction today,” she said.

The buyers were a young couple with a baby who will be moving from an apartment in New Farm and are now ready for the family home.

35 Lowerson Street, Lutwyche (pictured above)

• Sold under the hammer for $945,000

• Four registered bidders, three active

• Lead agent: Andy Flanagan - 0412 318 086

• Ray White Ascot

• Auctioneer: Phil Parker, Ray White

The winning bidder of this original character home ripe for renovation, was an investor.

“We actually had a bit of interstate interest on this one, as well as local interest. It is a great sized block with plenty of potential however the house definitely needs some work,” Mr Flanagan said.

The sellers lived in the home for 17 years and were downsizing to the next phase of their life.

“The market is really active, with heaps more buyer activity than what we saw a couple of months ago. As everyone is saying, stock levels are very tight,” he said.

Ray White South Australia chief auctioneer John Morris said you would never guess it was winter in Adelaide, not only because of the shining sun but because the auction action is reminiscent of a springtime boom.

“Last week we had some incredible results, with 80 per cent of properties selling under the hammer and around eight registered bidders per auction. Both of these stats are up on last year, which itself was a record breaking year,” Mr Morris said.

“Ray White conducted more than 50 per cent of all auctions throughout the state, proving yet again that when it comes to auctions, we are the competition creators.”

3 Eton Ave, Warradale (pictured above)

• Sold under the hammer for $1,035,000 (reserve was $990,000)

• 12 registered bidders, eight active

• Lead agent: Adam Keane - 0421 225 630

• Ray White Glenelg | Brighton

• Auctioneer: Rod Smitheram, Ray White

Mr Keane said feedback for the renovated cottage was in the high $800,000s and low $900,000s throughout the campaign.

“We advised our clients to take the property through to auction day and you can imagine how thrilled they were; they were shaking with emotion!”

“They are a lovely young couple; pregnant with baby number two and because Chris travels a lot working for the AFLW, they are moving to Prospect to be closer to family to help with the kids.”

The buyers are a family looking to get into the sought-after Brighton High School zone.

“We tried to sell it off market four months ago and had no interest, but after cleaning it up, styling it and running a great strategy, it was flooded with interest. You need to create competition rather than trying to sell a secret,” Mr Keane finished.

14 Derwent Terrace, Valley View (pictured above)

• Sold under the hammer for $950,000 (reserve was $900,000)

• 10 registered bidders, three active

• Lead agent: Justin Irving - 0412 289 674

• Ray White Salisbury

• Auctioneer: John Morris, Ray White SA chief auctioneer

“The sellers had owned the home since 1997 and initially had it rented out and then knocked over and built brand new. They were offloading the investment. They were absolutely thrilled with the result,” Mr Irving said.

The buyer was a local gentleman who purchased it to live in.

“It is a family home on a large allotment with a wide frontage, which is quite rare. It was only finished a couple of weeks ago so it is brand new. People are really attracted to a finished product at the moment.”

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Media Contact:
Nina Clarke
Ray White Group
nclarke@raywhite.com
0448 841 606