As “Super Saturday” warms up for 2018, one leading auctioneer is tipping that the previously hot Sydney sellers’ market is actually cooling in favour of buyers.
Leading auctioneer, Damien Cooley of Cooley Auctions, says with his team set to put 108 homes under the hammer this Saturday, the significant weekend will set the tone for the year in real estate. And the tone, Mr Cooley adds, is that sentiments could be shifting.
“Buyers have more control than they had in recent years, so they’re in much more of a negotiating position. Sellers are really starting to listen to what buyers are saying, whereas in 2015, 2016 and particularly the first half of 2017, vendors were very dismissive of buyers who said ‘We’re not interested at that price’. A lot of sellers thought ‘Oh well, let’s find someone else who will be interested’.”
“The tide has turned and owners are starting to say ‘Well, we’ve got one buyer, maybe two, and this is their feedback, this is what they want to pay’,” Mr Cooley says.
Mr Cooley says the increased volume is due to Easter weekend falling earlier in 2018 than other years. In order for vendors to sell before the four-day weekend and school holiday period, they need to have their property on the market right now.
“Easter always signifies the end of the first quarter; traditionally a good time to be selling. However, I don’t think we’re going to be inundated with property on the market in the first quarter, but buyers will have good choice and vendors will also have a good opportunity for selling,” he says.
Feedback on the ground from Cooley’s team of 13 auctioneers is that purchasers, some of whom may have been discouraged by Sydney’s strong seller’s market are just looking for a green light.
“They’re looking for someone to tell them that it’s ok to buy. I think that buyers can be entering this market with more confidence than they had in 2017 because there’s more stability – the market’s not running away from them.There’s more assurance they can turn up to an auction and buy within the price guide, or close to that price guide,”
he says.
“I’m not calling a buyers market right now. We may not be far off a buyer’s market, but I’m not calling a buyer’s market just yet,” he says.
Consistent with this upswing in numbers for this weekend are solid bookings for March across the McGrath network’s Eastern Seaboard footprint.
Adrian Bo, General Manager of Company Owned Sales for McGrath, and senior auctioneer for the Group said, “We have noticed an upswing in our 2018 auction numbers leading into Easter compared to the same period for 2017. Though we are still booking auctions for the 17th and 24th March, we anticipate both days will emerge as “Super Saturdays” in the lead-up to Easter.
“The first strong indicator for us is Saturday 3rd March, where the network’s auctions have increased by 38%. Sydney metro auction bookings are up 40% to the comparative period in 2017. We are seeing the largest increase YOY in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs (+115%) with 28 properties to be auctioned on the first auction day in March, followed by the Sutherland Shire (+64%).
He adds “We were faced with a shortage of listing inventory this time last year due to reluctant sellers in a fluidly growing market. Vendors were fearful of the market getting away from them by around 10% if they sold first, without securing their new home in an equivalent market environment. As the Sydney market has now reached its peak, our clients seem more inclined to transact in an increasingly balanced market. We have certainly seen an uplift in buyer sentiment this calendar year.”
A townhouse at 5 Pitt Street, Randwick that passed in at auction in December 2017 with no registrations or bids sold this month for $2.5 million, well over the asking price.
“There are now better opportunities for First Home Buyers with less investor activity due to funding restrictions and somewhat lower yields. In the $2M – $3M bracket in Sydney’s East, we are also witnessing an increase in buyer enquiry and open home attendance. In Sydney’s North, the $1.5M –
$2.5M sector is particularly robust with strong buyer traction and competition in that price point,”
Mr Bo said.
Mr Bo confirmed that to date 2018 March auction numbers for Sydney Metro are up 21% (426) and he expects this number to increase while the company continues to add to the March auction roster. Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs for March has currently 86 auctions booked (+62%) while Sutherland Shire is at 102 (+62%).
This week, CoreLogic is tracking 3,017 capital city auctions held last week. As usual, Melbourne and Sydney are the two busiest capital city auction markets this week, with 1,485 and 1,120 auctions scheduled; up from last week’s final result of 932 and 737 auction’s held respectively. Across the smaller markets, activity is expected to be higher week-on-week. But the overall number of properties scheduled for auction this week is expected to be lower than final results from the same week last year when 3,301 auctions were held.
