Auction volume skyrockets in 2024

Last year’s auction volume figure of 26,888 was blown out of the water after Ray White agents in Australia scheduled more than 32,000 auctions in 2024 to date.

From January 1 to today, the Ray White Group in Australia has achieved a 65 per cent clearance rate - slightly higher than the clearance rate recorded in 2023. Buyer demand at auction remained strong in 2024, with an average of 4.3 bidders registering per auction and 2.8 actively participating, figures that are consistent with last year.

Sellers who chose to take their property to auction day were rewarded with nearly 11 per cent more on average than if they had taken a prior offer, proving the auction method is still the best way to create competition.

The Ray White Group successfully trademarked the phrase 'Competition Creators’ in 2022. The phrase was coined by the group’s chairman Brian White AO and is now interwoven into the everyday language at Ray White when referring to auctioneering and the auction process. Ray White’s high performance national training focuses on creating competition in all markets.

The group continued to lead the way in the auction market, claiming a dominant 24 per cent of all auctions scheduled across the industry. Within the Ray White Group, 35 per cent of all listings were transacted by auction versus private treaty, well above the industry average of 21 per cent.

This year, migration appeared to take a back seat relative to last year when it came to auction buyers. Just over 90 per cent of Ray White’s auction buyers were local to the area, while nearly seven per cent were from interstate, and a further 1.4 per cent were international buyers.

Roughly 76 per cent identified as owner occupiers and 22 per cent were investors according to Ray White auction data. The rate of investors selling at auction was slightly higher at 30 per cent, while 67 per cent were owner occupiers trading in.

In Australia, the top residential auction sale for the group this year was through Ray White Bexley North | Kingsgrove | Beverly Hills managing director George Boghos and associate Amber Lei who broke the suburb record in Hunters Hill with the $26.1 million sale of 16 Le Vesinet Dr, Hunters Hill (pictured above).

"During the campaign we had 300 people through the home, and then 24 registered to bid on the day. The starting bid was $8 million and over the course of the auction we took over 70 bids with the property selling above reserve," Mr Boghos said.

"The buyer was from Sylvania Waters, he's retiring and wanted that amazing view. Throughout the campaign, we saw a mix of buyers, from investors, all the way to families looking for a holiday home."

Ray White Sunbury directors Aaron Hill and Marin Durkovic claimed the auction with the highest number of registered bidders this year with the sale of 22 Charming St, Hampton East (pictured above).

The Melbourne home featured on last year’s season of The Block where it was sold by contestants Eliza and Liberty for $4.3 million in the series finale. The home was sold to entrepreneur Adrian Portelli who commissioned the Sunbury agents to sell the property earlier this year with a $1 reserve that attracted 200 registered bidders.

It was the fourth Block home the Ray White Sunbury directors had sold and went for well over the dollar reserve price at $3.245 million to a young couple who barely made the auction after only viewing the property online.

In Sydney, the Ray White group scheduled 7,921 auctions to date this year, recording a 69 per cent clearance rate, 4.6 average registered bidders and 2.7 active bidders.

Ray White NSW|ACT head of auctions Perry Edmondson-Clark (pictured above) said it was an impressive year for the group in Sydney and the wider state.

“Auction volume was considerably higher than previous years. We continue to be the clear leader in auctions across the harbour state with one in five auctions being marketed by Ray White,” Mr Edmondson-Clark said.

“We have seen a traditionally balanced market this year, throughout 2024 we noticed our average registered bidders dropping, however our clearance rate has remained high and consistently trending above the industry average.

"Auctions continue to demonstrate speed and flexibility with clearance and days on market considerably higher than a private sale alternative.

“Auctions are the lifeblood of Ray White with our members utilising the method of sale across all marketplaces. We look forward to continuing to build on our position as auction leaders and feel we are in a great position for continued growth in 2025.”

The Ray White Rural network’s top auction sale was in New South Wales, nearly eight hours north west of Sydney. Ray White Rural Goondiwindi principal Tim Gleeson sold the 1,506ha cropping property ‘Belara’, 543 Forest Creek Rd, North Star (pictured above) for $13.7 million. The auction exceeded the vendor’s expectation after attracting strong interest. Seven hopeful buyers registered to bid while four were active during the bidding.

In Melbourne this year, Ray White scheduled 7,986 auctions, narrowly taking out the title of auction capital. The Melbourne Ray White network recorded an 71 per cent clearance rate, 3.3 average registered bidders and 2.5 active bidders.

Ray White Victoria and Tasmania chief auctioneer Jeremy Tyrrell said 2024 has been an extraordinary year for auctions with the highest year of auction volume on record.

“It was a year of firsts, not only with a record number of auctions, but with industry firsts such as the first virtual reality auction with auctioneer Greg Brydon from Ray White Cheltenham, donning VR goggles to conduct the first ever on-site auction using this ground breaking technology (pictured below).

“We even conducted the first ever auction with an AUSLAN interpreter to make auctions more accessible for the deaf (pictured below).

“With industry leading advancements providing us with better data insights into campaign efficiencies, it is clearer to us now, more than ever, that auctions are far more effective in delivering not only a sale, but the best competitive outcome.

“Auctions are firmly part of Ray White and in 2024, we delivered the most diverse range of auction formats across the industry, either on-site, online or in-room.

“With our foundations clearly set, 2025 is going to be an exciting year in the auction space.”

Across Brisbane there were 3,666 auctions scheduled to date, resulting in an 64 per cent clearance rate, 5.7 average registered bidders and 3.6 active bidders.

Ray White Queensland chief auctioneer Gavin Croft (pictured above) said to sum up the year, it’s been a tale of two halves.

“We started strong with clearance rates, stock levels were down but demand remained really high so we saw those clearance rates at the first half of the year sit around 70 to 75 per cent - it was a strong start to the year,” Mr Croft said.

“But in the second half, we started to see that between July, August and September, clearance rates started to fall to about 60 per cent and in the last couple of months to finish off the year it’s been around 50 per cent.

“A big theme for the year is that Brisbane apartments are back in vogue, there’s no question about it - one and two bedroom apartments at the premium end. It’s really been about the emergence of apartments which are starting to play a key role inside the market.

“And of course inner city property with good size blocks of land, they’re always in high demand, that doesn’t change.

“Then we go out to the affordable areas, particularly on the southside, which shows a real emergence of affordability being a key driver in the market place.

“There were strong clearance rates through a number of those cheaper, outer lying suburbs which we are really starting to see.”

The top auction sale under the hammer for Queensland this year was 1142/1126 Mount Walker West Rd, Mount Walker West (pictured above) which sold for $9.8 million to a local family. The mixed farming property on 872.91ha was marketed by Neil Mundy of Ray White Ipswich and attracted four registered bidders who all had a bid.

Ray White Ipswich principal Warren Ramsey said the seller Charlie Mort, who owns Mort & Co, the largest and most experienced feedlot manager in Australia, was happy with the result.

The top auction sale on the Gold Coast this year was the recent 14 Biggs Pl, Southport (pictured above) sale, the property sold for $9.05 million through Ray White Prestige Gold Coast's Robbie Graham.

“We sold the property to the current sellers about six years ago, they spent several years building and designing this home and are now passing it on to another family who can enjoy the wonderful riverfront living,” Mr Graham said.

“It sold for a record price for a waterfront property in Southport. It’s an iconic home on 1,200 sqm off Main River and there’s nothing else like it so it attracted a lot of attention during the campaign both locally and Australia wide.”

The Ray White Prestige Gold Coast office comes under the expansive Ray White Surfers Paradise Group umbrella. Ray White Surfers Paradise currently holds a success rate of more than 90 per cent for their December auctions.

Adelaide had the highest average registered bidder count of any capital city this year according to Ray White auction data. There were 6.6 average registered bidders this year while 3.3 were active. The network recorded a 79 per cent clearance rate.

Ray White South Australia chief auctioneer John Morris said 2024 marks the first time on record that Ray White South Australia has achieved more than 3,000 scheduled auctions.

"With just shy of 8,000 auctions across the whole industry scheduled for the state, this means our market share remains at approximately 40 per cent for the year. Our nearest competitors rarely, if ever, reached a share of 10 per cent," Mr Morris said.

"We are likely to see 2,700 plus auctions conducted for the year with approximately 15 per cent of auctions not making it through to auction day."

This is broken down into 11.4 per cent selling prior and four per cent were lost (cancelled, withdrawn or converted to private treaty).

"Properties selling prior are up on last year, but still lower than the years prior. Lost auctions are the lowest they have been since pre-2020," Mr Morris said.

"Every metric has remained strong in South Australia throughout 2024, but all growth has started to slow. However, we are still seeing our eventual sale price achieving 10.9 per cent more than offers received prior to auction day.

"All in all, Adelaide is still seeing very strong numbers around all auction metrics. Bidder registrations have declined slowly but steadily throughout the year, seeing a high of seven to our current four bidders per auction. Bidder participation has remained steady, hovering around three for the whole year.

"It's only over the past couple of months that we have seen any significant shift in the auction market. This could be due to the increase in listings (about 25 per cent YoY) and also due to the increase in the number of auctions (up by approxiamately 40 per cent)."

Some massive under the hammer sales came out of the west this year as Perth continues to embrace the auction method. There was a 40 per cent increase on scheduled auctions this year with 238 listings scheduled for auction.

Ray White Dalkeith | Claremont principal Vivien Yap holds the top Ray White auction sale for the year. She sold 11/8 Parker St, South Perth sold for $12.2 million in October with four registered bidders attending the auction.

Ms Yap dominated the top 10 auction sales in Perth this year, also selling 30 Browne Ave, Dalkeith for $6.475 million, 5/23 South Perth Esplanade, South Perth for $6 million and 45 View Tce East, Fremantle for $5.337 million.