Hi,

Auction numbers were down again over the weekend with 281 virtual auctions conducted.  Of these auctions 138 sold at auction, 136 sold before auction and 7 passed-in bringing the clearance rate to 98%.  Only auctions that selling agents were confident had buyers continued through to auction so the clearance rate is not reflection of the state of the market as 527 auctions have been postponed.

With Covid-19 case numbers rising and regional Victoria now thrown into lockdown, the real estate industry is effectively shut down with only virtual tours of properties allowed.  Rental properties seem to be leasing well via virtual tours but very few properties will sell and new listings being launched are extremely low.

The REIV are currently lobbying the government to have 1 on 1 private inspections permitted (which was allowed during Lockdown 1.0 via a permit system) but it seems to be falling on deaf ears.  I could only imagine the stress that some vendors must be feeling if they are selling due to financial hardship or if they must sell as they have purchased a property.

The online auction of 9 Kawareen Street, Balwyn North lasted for 90 minutes while two parties would not give up on securing the five bedroom, three bathroom home.  For 30 minutes of the auction the bidding increments were at just $500 with both parties at multiple stages during the auction giving up and congratulating the other party.  The property sold for $2,421,500 which was over the $2,200,000 reserve.

A home in Parkdale went under the hammer on Saturday after just having two opens prior to lockdown.  9A Evans Street, Parkdale is a four bedroom, two bathroom that has a great floor plan which allows it be easily renovated.  24 buyers registered to participate in the auction with only three bidders taking part. The auction commenced on a vendor’s bid of $1,000,000 with the property being announced on the market at $1,200,000.  The property sold for $1,240,000 to first home buyers.

Have a great week everybody!

Kim Easterbrook

Hi,

Auction numbers were down on the weekend with 482 auctions postponed.  387 auctions were still reported to the REIV with 214 of these selling at auction, 154 before auction and there were an additional 149 private sales.  Most of the auctions that are scheduled for this weekend coming will likely be pushed out until after lockdown ceases unless the agent is confident that they have a number of strong buyers.  And even in that case, most of these negotiations have been brought forward.

For our Melbourne offices, it will be a quiet period of buying until we can inspect properties again, however for our Geelong/Ballarat office, it has been busy and business as usual.  Our rentals team have been surprisingly busy leasing a number of properties last week via virtual tours which shows that the lockdown has not deterred tenants from planning their next move.

Online auctions continued to deliver some strong results with an unrenovated house at 25 Hume Street, Armadale selling well above the price guide.  Five bidders tried to secure the property that was quoted prior to auction for $3,500,000 to $3,850,000 and selling for $4,200,000.

The Geelong market continues to go from strength to strength with a house in Hamlyn Heights selling for $138,000 over the reserve price.  12 Langibanool Ave, Hamlyn Heights was quoted for $525,000 to $550,000 prior to auction with ten buyers registered to bid but only five of them participated in the auction. The fourth bid was $550,000 where the property was announced on the market but strong bidding pushed the sale price to $688,000.

Have a great week.

Kim Easterbrook

Hi,

What a difference a day can make, one day the State Government was announcing no Covid-19 cases then the next day we are in lockdown.  There were over 1,000 auctions scheduled for the weekend however 701 have been reported to the REIV as being postponed.  Of the 397 auctions that were to be held online, 267 sold at auction, 92 sold before auction and 38 passed in resulting in a clearance rate of 90%.  In addition, there were 149 private sales.

It seems that 2021 is the year of in and out of lockdown.  The real estate industry has adapted very well however there is still only a certain amount that can be done under the tight restrictions.  Auctions can easily be converted to online however onsite inspections of properties are not allowed.  This basically puts the industry into a holding pattern until restrictions ease.

Lockdown aside, there were some very strong auction results over the weekend with some properties selling hundreds of thousands of dollars above the vendor’s reserve. 4 Hamilton St, Seddon was quoted $1,200,000 to $1,300,000 prior to auction and is a three bedroom, two bathroom, single fronted period home on 322 sqm.  The property whilst updated, did not have a great floor plan and could have done with some additional works to lift it to its full potential.  The property sold for $1,567,500 which was $276,500 above the vendor’s reserve.

8 Grange Road, Sandringham was also another popular property.  The property was quoted $1,690,000 to $1,790,000 prior to auction and is an entry level, family home for the area with four bedrooms, two bathrooms in very liveable condition on 356 sqm of land.  The property had reached the vendor’s reserve after a strong opening bid of $1,900,000 which knocked out some participants immediately.  There were an additional two bidders above this level with the property selling for $2,155,000.

Have a great week.

Kim Easterbrook

Hi,

Lockdown 5.0 thankfully ended last week which allowed onsite auctions to take place over the weekend.  433 auctions were reported to the REIV weekend resulting in a clearance rate of 88%.  278 properties sold at auction, 50 passed in, 105 sold before auction but 595 were postponed (to take place over the next few weeks).  In addition, there were 186 private sales.  Interestingly, this time last year there were 217 auctions and a clearance rate of 78%.

Lockdown 5.0 does not appear to have impacted the property market with buyers very willing to participate at auctions over the weekend.  If anything, it may have had a negative effect on the amount of properties coming onto the market.  Some vendors are concerned about the disruptions of lockdowns and are holding off selling whilst in actual fact, the lack of stock couldn’t make it a better time to put their properties on the market.

As a company, we have seen a small impact of the Covid situation in Sydney.  The first six months of the year we had received considerable buyer enquiry from both owner occupiers moving to Victoria due to the housing affordability factor and Sydneysiders wanting to invest in the Victorian property market.  Over the past few weeks this enquiry has dropped to virtually zero.  Whilst we believe this will only be short term, there is no doubt and understandably, residents from Sydney may have put their plans into a holding pattern.

75-77 Haydens Road, Beaumaris went to auction over the weekend which was quoted $2,500,000 – $2,650,000 prior to auction.  The three bedroom, two bathroom home in need of renovation is set on a large block of 1,226 sqm sold for a huge $580,000 over reserve for $3,230,000.

A fire damaged home 44 Collins Street, Thornbury sold for a big price considering that it would be unlikely that a bank would lend money against the property in its current state as it could be deemed as uninhabitable.  The tenants who resided in the property unfortunately fell asleep whilst a candle was burning and the front section caught fire.  Five bidders participated in the auction with the property selling under the hammer for $1,517,500 which is significantly higher than the $1,150,000 to $1,250,000 quoted price range.

Have a great week.

Kim Easterbrook

 

Hi,

The second week of lockdown didn’t deter hundreds of vendors moving their onsite auctions to online with 443 auctions reported to the REIV.  This was down on the previous week but up on the same time last year which only produced 293 auctions. Another high clearance rate of 94% was achieved however 527 auctions were postponed so it is not a true reflection of what the market would have produced had lockdown not occurred.  Of the 443 auctions, 418 sold (with 202 of these selling before auction and 216 sold at auction), 155 were withdrawn and there were an additional 190 private sales.

With promising signs that lockdown will cease tomorrow night, the state government has given a stern warning that restrictions will be in place for quite some time to come. Whilst we may be able to inspect properties again, it is likely these will either be private inspections with capped numbers and auctions will again be either outdoor only with limited numbers or still online.  Hopefully we will hear an announcement today.

The auction of 21 Aberdeen Grove, Northcote was scheduled to go to auction last Saturday but was brought forward due to an ‘acceptable’ offer being received.  The property had been quoted $1,400,000 to $1,500,000 prior to auction with an offer well above this range triggering the property to sell before auction.  Three additional buyers were wanting to challenge the offer so a zoom auction was then scheduled.  The auction ended up with four bidders in total and sold well above its reserve price for $1,811,000.

Have a great week.

Kim Easterbrook

Hi ,

Auctions were back on the weekend with the REIV reporting 543 auctions with a clearance rate of 83%.  314 sold at auction, 135 sold before auction and 719 postponed. There were an additional 133 private sales reported.  This time last year there were 438 auctions with a clearance rate of 67%.  The next two weekends are predicted to produce very high numbers of auctions as we play catch up from lockdown 4.0.

Winter and school holidays historically results in a slow down in the amount of properties for sale however the fourth lockdown may have made some vendors nervous about putting their property on the market for fear of further interruptions.  Stock levels are low across Melbourne and Regional Victoria.  New sales campaigns have been delayed as stylists and photographers were unable to get access to properties during the two week lockdown.

Vendor’s need not fear about putting their properties on the market.  As an industry, we have adapted extremely well and properties have still been selling under strong competition.  That being said, the panic and FOMO we experienced at the start of 2021 has eased.

An unrenovated house at 8 Lysterville Avenue, Malvern went under the hammer on the weekend.  The property last sold in 1997 for $440,000.  Four bidders participated in the auction after an opening bid of $2,500,000.  The property was announced on the market at $2,650,000 and sold for $2,940,000.

Villa units are continuining to show their popularity and 2/4 Sandford Street, Highett was no exception.  Investors, first-home buyers and downsizers were all in the mix to secure the property which was quoted at $600,000 to $660,000 prior to auction.  Six bidders pushed the final sale price to $743,000.

Have a great week.

Kim Easterbrook

Hi,

A strong clearance rate of 96% was achieved over the weekend with 565 online auctions conducted.  The final result for the previous weekend was 869 auctions and a clearance rate of 93%.  In comparison, the same weekend last year produced only 159 auctions and a clearance rate of 67%.  It must be noted that these results do not take into account the properties that have been converted from auction to private sale nor the auctions that have been postponed until after lockdown.  However, it does tell us is that almost every property that went to auction….sold.  There were an additional 183 private sales and lockdown has certainly not impacted on the amount of property transactions too dramatically.

Melburnians’ are hoping for some good news that lockdown will end this week and we are expecting an extremely busy few weeks in the real estate market playing catch up.  My company, once again has experienced strong new buyer enquiry over the past week and a half with investors making up a large percentage of this enquiry.

With currently no population growth in Melbourne, and even some long term residents moving to the country/sea, there is still a strong demand for buyers to invest their dollars into the Melbourne property market.  We have seen how property prices have soared in Sydney to unaffordable levels and a large majority believe that Melbourne property prices will follow suit (and already are).  Property prices have remained very resilient throughout the biggest test it has ever experienced (a pandemic).  Population growth is expected to resume once the international boarders open due to immigration.  Investors have also had particular interest in buying in Geelong and Ballarat.  This is due to these locations being a lot more affordable than Melbourne and both towns also offering a great life for families with very good private and public schools.

Unfortunately, first home buyers are the casualty here with strong demand further pushing them out of the property market.  There is no surprise that the banks are seeing a decline in first home buyer lending with Melbourne’s median house price now tipping over $1,000,000.   This will likely result in more first home buyers opting to rent or looking at properties at a more affordable price point, eg. apartments or properties further out from the CBD.

Have a great week.

Kim Easterbrook

Hi,

There were 970 auctions held over the weekend resulting in a clearance rate of 81% according to the REIV.  609 sold at auction, 179 sold before auction and there were an additional 210 private sales.   The clearance rate for houses was 84% with a median price of $1,200,000 and apartments achieved a 76% clearance rate with a median price of $771,000.  Interestingly, this time last year there were only 96 auctions held.

Many experts are expecting property price growth to continue this year and further beyond.  This is all happening without population growth which is not expected to increase again for another two years.  Our employment growth has been better than expected, coupled with low interest rates, strong consumer confidence and many people have actually been able to save quite a bit of money over the past twelve months, this has all contributed to an increase in demand.

It seems APRA and the Reserve Bank are more interested in financial market stability, promoting growth in economic activity and lending regulations than property prices at present, so it doesn’t appear that any intervention is on the cards in the immediate future.

The weekend auctions we attended were once again competitive with multiple bidders and all auctions selling under the hammer.

The auction of 1/7 Crawford Road, Cheltenham produced a higher than expected result.  Entry level houses/units for good quality suburbs are currently in strong demand.  This three bedroom, two bathroom, one of two home attracted three bidders at auction.  The opening bid of $1,050,000 was quickly trumped by another bid of $1,200,000 where the property was announced on the market.  Two bidders then went head to head where the property sold for $1,325,000.

17 Leroux Street, Oakleigh had a lot of interest with land sites with development potential continuing to be in strong demand.  This property is on 702 sqm with a rentable, original house on it.  The property was quoted $1,050,000 to $1,150,000 prior to auction.  There was a large crowd in attendance and five bidders in total (with some not even having the opportunity to put their hand up).  The property sold for $1,387,000.

Have a great day.

Kim Easterbrook

There’s a secret to getting a house in one of Melbourne’s up-market suburbs.

Find our very own Kim Easterbrook commenting on ‘hidden gems’ in the Herald Sun here.

Kim Easterbrook talks about the increasingly competitive Melbourne auction scene.

Read the full article here.

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