NationalNEWS

Super Saturday lives up to its auction market promise

The busiest auction day of the year lived up to its name, with Super Saturday seeing 2,933 auctions in the capitals, delivering a preliminary clearance rate of 77.1 per cent.

CoreLogic noted the numbers indicate the market is passing the test of higher volumes yet strong results.

“Volumes are reaching similar levels to those seen around the end of last year over the seasonal hype pre slowdown period when clearance rates were tracking around the mid 60 per cent to low 70 per cent range,” CoreLogic reported.

“This week’s volumes are higher than last week’s 2,517 auctions held, which returned an only slightly higher preliminary clearance rate (77.7 per cent), later revising down to 72.7 per cent at final figure.

“It is likely this week’s final clearance rate will revise down to be similar. One year ago, a lower 2,201 capital city homes were taken to auction with just over half selling (50.4 per cent).”

Australia’s largest auction market, Melbourne, recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 77.1 per cent across the 1,567 auctions this week.

“This was the busiest week for auctions Melbourne has seen since October 2018 (1,709). Over the week prior, 1,248 auctions were held returning a final clearance rate of 76.1 per cent,” CoreLogic reported. 

In Sydney, volume was also high but it was the clearance rate which proved a standout. There were 1,045 Sydney homes taken to auction this week, returning a preliminary auction clearance rate of 81.4 per cent, which was the highest preliminary results across the capital city markets.

“This week’s result is an improvement on the previous weeks’ final clearance rate when volumes were lower (74.5 per cent for 963 auctions),” CoreLogic reflected.

Across the smaller auction markets, preliminary results show that Canberra was the best performing in terms of clearance rate with a 67.7 per cent success rate across 82 auctions.

The national capital was followed by Brisbane (63.2 per cent), and Adelaide (62.7 per cent), while only 37.5 per cent of homes sold at auction across Perth.

Ray White results

Ray White also noted buyers were out and about en masse with home sellers reaping rewards across the country on Super Saturday.

This week, the Ray White Group had 361 auctions scheduled for Saturday – three times as many auctions as the group had booked on Saturday, February 1.

The group’s data reveals a preliminary national auction day clearance of a very healthy 82 per cent with 45 people in attendance at each auction and 4.5 registered bidders per auction.

NSW

In the harbour city, Ray White NSW Chief Auctioneer Alex Pattaro said February finished with a bang with an extra Saturday added in for the leap year. The preliminary clearance was 87 per cent across Sydney.

“Records were being broken this February for sure. We are seeing properties within 10km of the CBD sell for prices that are similar to the peak of 2017. Competition within the market is ferocious, especially among first home buyers and families currently at level not seen since the peak,” Mr Pattaro said.

“From recent sales there’s no doubt we are back at the same level of the highs of 2017 and I would urge potential vendors to get in touch with their local agent to take full advantage of the current competition.”

David Walker of Ray White Upper North Shore said his office sold three from three at auction today, plus 23C Water St, Wahroonga which sold on Thursday night for $2.7 million ahead of its scheduled action date of Saturday.

“There’s quite a bit of heat in the market and we are fielding a lot of decent offers prior,” Mr Walker said.

Victoria

Ray White Victoria & Tasmania Chief Auctioneer Matt Condon said Super Saturday didn’t disappoint, and the preliminary clearance for Melbourne was sitting at 88 per cent.

“Today is actually shaping up to be one of the strongest auction days of the year. For the third week in a row we are seeing an increasing amount of active bidders. Crowd sizes are also some of the highest we have seen to date,” Mr Condon said.

“Buyers are arriving at auctions with strength and confidence and with a clear strategy in order to win their desired property.”

Queensland

Ray White Queensland Chief Auctioneer Mitchell Peereboom said it had been a great day of auctions across the state with huge numbers of “buyers willing to compete”.

“We had a sale earlier in Enoggera with Ray White Manly which sold for $638,000, and then there was a standout auction in Alderley with some competitive bidding. The year 2020 is continuing to be so strong.”

Up on the glorious Sunshine Coast, 10 registered bidders lined up for the opportunity to buy 13 Third Ave, Marcoola which agent Jeff Uebergang of Ray White Maroochydore ending up selling for $382,000 under auctioneer Dan Sowden’s gavel.

South Australia

Ray White’s bargain of the day went to South Australia where Joel Paskett sold 21Walsh St, Whyalla Norrie for $80,000 (not a typo!).

The three-bedroom house attracted four registered bidders who all had a go after auctioneer Jason O’Halloran opened the bidding at $45,000.

Mr Paskett of Ray White Whyalla said the original three-bedroom maisonette was in a highly sought-after area and attracted a lot of first home buyers plus investors. A comparable rental property receives $150/week making it an attractive opportunity.

“At the moment everything is starting to pick up. Our housing is still down on a year ago as we flow with the economic cycle of the steelworks and mining industry, but rental properties are all in hot demand.”

Ray White South Australia Chief Auctioneer John Morris said there were 31 auctions scheduled for the week, with 26 alone on Saturday.

“We should call it under the pump, not under the hammer, as the market has been heating up across SA,” he said.

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Cassandra Charlesworth

Cassandra Charlesworth is a features writer for Elite Agent Magazine with over 15 years’ journalism experience in metropolitan and regional newsrooms. She has a specialist interest in real estate, tech disruption and a good old-fashioned “yarn”.