Auction activity continues to climb upwards with increasing volumes around Australia and next week will see the Ray White Group’s largest auction week for more than six weeks.
Today the leading real estate group had 351 properties scheduled across the country with a date on the auction block and a 56 per cent preliminary national clearance rate.
There was action on 85 per cent of all auctions, and 3.4 average registered bidders per lot and 2.2 active bidders on each one. This week the group had 567 auctions booked, increasing to 666 next week.
Of the capital cities, Adelaide was once again the standout today with a 78 per cent clearance and 6.6 average registered bidders and 3.2 of them active.
Meanwhile records tumbled in Brisbane where one of the country’s best prestige agents, Matt Lancashire of Ray White New Farm, broke his own auction record with a $10.210 million auction sale in blue chip Hawthorne.
BRISBANE
Ray White New Farm Lead agent: Matt Lancashire - 0416 476 480
Sold under the hammer $10.210 million
5 registered bidders, 4 active bidders
Auctioneer: Haesley Cush, Ray White
Today Matt Lancashire of Ray White New Farm smashed the Brisbane auction record with the sale of 16 Leura Tce, Hawthorne for $10.210 million under the hammer in front of a big crowd in the river city.
All eyes were on the Brisbane riverfront home today of the late and great businessman Jim Kennedy, who passed away last September.
The Kennedys bought 16 Leura Tce at a Ray White auction themselves in 1989 for a then record price of $1.4 million.
The four-bedroom family home on 1215sq m sits across three lots and has a swimming pool, pontoon, boat ramp, 30m river frontage and direct views across to Teneriffe.
Ray White New Farm Principal Matt Lancashire said he had interest in this trophy home from all over the world.
“My phone blew up. We had interest coming from everywhere. We had four local buyers and one international buyer on the phone today. Once the property was announced on the market at just over $10 million then two locals battled it out,” he said.
“The high end is still going gangbusters.
“After this campaign I now have five new high end buyers who are actively looking for a renovated house around $15 million.
“We had four offers on this property and we had 70 inspections and we had enquiries from all over the world.
“And the end result is the Kennedys are thrilled and I smashed my own record and now still hold the highest auction sale ever in Brisbane.”
Jim and Robin Kennedy had lived on the Brisbane River for the best part of 45 years. His family said Jim loved being near the water and he had many boats in his days. He also owned Tangalooma Resort on Moreton Island for some years in the 1970s. He had also owned and operated South Molle Island and Daydream Island too.
Jim Kennedy had a remarkable career. He received a CBE from the Queen in 1982 and an AO in 1995. He is also one of the 2006 “Queensland Greats”. He served on many public company boards (including ASX, Qantas, Suncorp, and CBA for 24 years). He was the Chairman of the Australian Postal Commission in the 1970s that split Telstra and Australia Post. He was the founding Chairman of QIC and undertook many Commissions of Review for all levels of Government. He sat on the Advisory Board for former Prime Minister John Howard.
Earlier at the group’s regular in-room event at The Calile Hotel many sales were made under Haesley Cush’s signature yellow gavel. “I love a gritty market and we certainly have that,” he said.
Ray White Ipswich Principal Warren Ramsey sold this 2.2ha aggregation property on 10 titles at the New Farm in-room auction too - 115 Mutdapilly Churchbank Weir Rd, Mutdapilly sold for $4.650 million.
Ray White New Farm agent Pauline Karatau sold this block of eight units at 249 Hawken Drive, St Lucia today for $3.75 million. This property had been in the one family for many years.
Ray White Clayfield principal Nicholas Given today sold this five bedroom home at 20 Tarm St, Wavell Heights for $1.37 million. The bidding opened at $1.2 million and quickly jumped up to sell under the hammer.
Ray White New Farm agent Hamish Bowman today sold 27 Anthony St, Hamilton for $2.33 million. The bidding opened at $1.9 million and moved steadily up to $2.33 million.
Ray White New Farm agent Fiona Berkman sold this luxury townhouse in Balmoral at 1/238 Oxford St for $1.675 million under the hammer.
Tom Lyne, also of Ray White New Farm, sold this three bedroom inner city apartment at 9/461 Adelaide St, Brisbane for $1.521 million. And Josh Brown and Ruby Kiriyama-Brown sold 2/15 Julius St, New Farm sold for $2.33 million under the hammer.
Ray White Queensland Chief Auctioneer Gavin Croft said great agents were worth their weight in gold right now as they helped their sellers make decisions.
“If the work is not being put in, if there's not enough evidence, it's really difficult for some sellers to make decisions,” he said.
“It's such a consistent theme at the moment - if the sellers don’t have a real grasp on where this market is sitting, and if they haven’t been given enough information from their agent then it’s hard for them to make an astute decision.
“Great agents are certainly helping in this market because 60 and 90 days days ago sellers were getting higher prices. Now they're not.
“Auction remains the best way for anyone to identify their market and we had a lot of positive results again this week.”
On Friday morning at a packed Ray White Queensland Corporate in-room auction event, Mr Croft auctioned this block of four units in Wilston which sold for $2.1 million under the hammer.
Ray White Special Projects (Queensland) associate director Andrew Burke (above right) signed up 20 registered bidders for the block at 28 Ruth St, Wilston which generates gross income of $70,980 per annum.
“This was a well-maintained building, with substantial recent upgrades in all units. The unit block market is very strong in Brisbane. There is a lack of rental vacancies so you get rental increases plus in a quality location like Wilston so you get capital gain as well,” Mr Burke said.
A local investor won the keys to the block that’s just 5kms from the Brisbane CBD. The retiree was looking to park money in a good location as a hedge against inflation, the agent said.
MELBOURNE
Ray White Victoria Chief Auctioneer Matt Condon said the network had seen another strong day of auction volume across the state.
“Although the rain and weather held back crowd sizes it did not deter bidders from attending auctions and securing their desired property,” he said.
“Today, it was noticeable that a number of buyers were holding back waiting for properties to be announced ‘on the market’ before engaging in the auction.
“However, once announced "on the market" it was good to see competitive bidding and momentum past that point.
“Despite all the noise surrounding the real estate landscape, it is important to note that if a buyer sees value in a property, they will bid and buy.
“This is evident with any auction campaign where the vendors expectations are in line with the market.
“These properties are being rewarded with more inspections, bidders and ultimately a better result on auction day.”
14 Riley Street, Oakleigh South
Ray White Carnegie Lead agent: Jin Ling - 0457 777 712
Sold for $1,183,000
Four active bidders
Auctioneer: Tom Grieve, Ray White
Ray White Carnegie agent Jin Ling said there were 50 to 60 people in attendance at the onsite auction of this three bedroom classic 1970s style home in Oakleigh South.
“We had 120 groups view the property during the campaign and 29 contract requests throughout the campaign. A Chinese family bought it, and they’re currently living in McKinnon and moved because their neighbour recently moved to Oakleigh South as well.”
ADELAIDE
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Ray White South Australia Chief Auctioneer John Morris said South Australia continues to buck the trend of most of the rest of the country by reporting a clearance rate above 80 per cent.
“And while we're hearing stories of no-one turning up at auctions elsewhere in the country, some 95 per cent of all auctions in and around Adelaide had bidder activity last week, with an average of five bidder registrations per auction,” Mr Morris said.
“Our state's real estate market continues to look extremely healthy.
“Ray White South Australia's share of the auction market for the financial year so far has consistently been around the 32 per cent mark, while our competitors sit at around 10 per cent.
“CoreLogic data from last week pointed to a clearance rate on the day in South Australia of 69.1 per cent.
“If we remove our group's auctions from this data, and look at the collective percentage of auctions sold on the day by our competitors, this drops down to 47.4 per cent.
“What does this mean? If you're taking your property to auction and you're not using the competition creators that are your Ray White agents, you have a greater risk of not selling your largest asset on the day.”
Ray White Norwood Lead agent: Brandon Pilgrim - 0438 807 061
Sold under the hammer for $1.557 million
Four registered and active bidders
Auctioneer: George Kargiotis, Ray White
Ray White Norwood agent Brandon Pilgrim said it was a solid three week auction campaign with more than 45 buyer groups through the three bedroom contemporary home.
“All four bidders had a go at auction, there were 32 bids in total and a local buyer won, they were buying for the school zone and it’s a great neighbourhood. The sellers are upsizing in the same area to a bigger home and the buyers have a baby. There’s less people looking to buy but there’s still competition at auction if you run the process.”
Ray White Mount Barker Damon Brohier - 0422 856 686
Sold under the hammer for $820,000, reserve $770,000
13 registered bidders, three active
Auctioneer: Josh Bagley, Ray White
Ray White Mount Barker Damon Brohier said his buyers today literally stumbled across the house on their morning walk.
“I got a text at 10:05am from the eventual buyers who are renting nearby to say they just spied the house on their walk and would like to see a contract and come through before the auction at 11am,” he said.
“It was probably the most expensive walk ever taken!
“The bidding kicked off at $740,000 which I think knocked a few bidders out right off the bat. My seller was overjoyed, and his daughter was in tears, happy tears.
“I had the auction signs out at 7:40am, I am so lucky the buyers saw them. It just shows that the early bird gets the worm.”
Ray White Norwood Lead agent and auctioneer Joe Hibeljic - 0431 334 630
Sold under the hammer for $957,000
19 registered bidders, 6 active bidders
Ray White Norwood agent Joe Hibeljic said he was so proud to represent this house for his owners.
“It was such a unique home. Everyone loved the French doors and the meticulous presentation. Well presented homes are always going to sell well but my owners here went above and beyond - to the smallest details, they made sure the grout was all clean.
"Their presentation was beautiful and beyond just cleaning up any clutter and people can tell when a house has been well loved and well maintained.”
SYDNEY
Ray White New South Wales Chief Auctioneer Alex Pattaro said the Sydney market was extremely price sensitive.
“It was another typical winter selling weekend for Ray White’s Sydney auctions. The market is extremely price sensitive. If properties are priced right, they are obtaining the lion's share of buyers,” Mr Pattaro said.
“Buyers remain on the fence and cautious however, engaging with properties after auction. “Our six week auction clearance rate is 71.8% over the last 90 days, which is a clear indication that properties are still transacting. Although it's just taking a little bit more time.”
Ray White Carnes Hill Lead agent: Shafeel Haq - 0452 054 290
Sold under the hammer for $1.147 million
16 registered bidders, 5 active
Auctioneer: Tim Snell, Ray White
Ray White Carnes Hill Lead agent Shafeel Haq was unfortunately stuck in Queenstown in New Zealand after his flight was cancelled yesterday.
“I actually missed the auction due to the flights being cancelled but I have a very capable co-agent Matthew Daniel. I might be stuck here longer as there’s a big backlog of people being delayed.
“The auction saw lots of registrations and five active bidders.
“This house was very popular as it suited a lot of demographics - first home buyers and downsizers.
“Investors are still watching on the sidelines in light of the fact we’re set for another interest rate hike soon.”
