Ray White sees biggest auction weekend of spring so far

It was the biggest auction weekend so far this spring for the Ray White Group, with 559 properties scheduled to go under the hammer today.

However, next week is set to be Ray White’s biggest week of spring selling season in 2024, with 928 properties set to go under the hammer.

Today Australasia’s largest real estate group recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 66.1 per cent, with an average of 3.6 registered bidders and 2.3 active bidders per auction.

The top result for the day went to Ray White Ashfield agents Michael Simpson and Andrew Simpson who sold 24 Arthur Street, Leichhardt under the hammer for $4.075 million.

The auction with the highest number of registered bidders went to Ray White North Quay agent Scott Langley who saw 20 registered bidders and eight active bidders at his 31 Fortescue Loop, Heathridge, auction. The property was sold under the hammer for $657,000.

SYDNEY

Ray White NSW head of auctions Perry Edmondson-Clark said there were 205 scheduled auctions across the group in NSW | ACT today and 320 for the week.

“With spring continuing to bring high volume, buyer choice remains high but their activity in the market remains strong with registered bidder numbers remaining consistent, averaging about four per property,” he said.

“With only a handful of Saturdays left until the end of the year, the market seems to look like it’s going to have a strong run right to the finish line.”

24 Arthur Street, Leichhardt

• Sold under the hammer for $4.075 million

• Lead agent: Michael Simpson - 0456 550 203

• Ray White Ashfield

• Six registered bidders, three active

“Almost all our bidders were upsizers - families and professionals. The winning bid went to a young family who were upsizing,” Mr Simpson said.

“It was an investment property for the sellers, they bought it in about 2017 and they’ve recently done a big renovation and finished 8 weeks ago, so they decided it was time to sell.

“The finishing and renovations were very well done, and it was really well presented.”

8 North Street, Fairfield

• Sold under the hammer for $3.25 million

• Lead agent: Sid Elias - 0410 404 414

• Ray White Glenmore Park

• Eight registered bidders, four active

“This one wasn’t actually a standard home, it was a boarding home with nine rooms, so all our bidders were investors,” Mr Elias said.

“The seller was an owner builder. It was a brand new property.

“This was an attractive piece of real estate as it had great rental returns.

“It has a 10-year lease to an NDIS provider which attracted a lot of buyers. We had about four offers prior to the auction.”

10 Jade Place, Seven Hills

• $1.46 million - $110,000 over reserve

• Lead agent/auctioneer: Andrew Drane - 0430 119 601

• Ray White Seven Hills - The Drane Group

• 15 registered bidders, five active

Mr Drane said the sellers had lived in the home since the 1980s and had decided to move closer to their daughter and grandchildren.

“The winning bid went to a family who only saw the property for the first time last night,” Mr Drane said.

Lot 1, 18 Lander Ave, Blacktown

• Sold under the hammer for $820,000

• Lead agent: Meshel Bahnam - 0478 664 123

• Ray White Diamantidis Group

• 11 registered bidders, five active

• Auctioneer: Tim Snell, Ray White NSW CEO

“The buyer was an investor who is an architect himself. His friends live right across the road. He’s going to lease it out for now and then build on it,” Mr Bahnam said.

“We had about 70 per cent investors and 30 per cent first home buyers bidding, it needed a bit of work.

“The seller was a builder who subdivided and sold one part of the land and is still deciding what to do with the other lot.”

7 Yarrawin Way, Airds

• Sold under the hammer for $700,000

• Lead agent: Julie Latham - 0402 113 405

• Ray White Macarthur Group

• 17 registered bidders, six active

• Auctioneer: Max Nell, Ray White

“Interest was all from investors, people were wanting to try and develop and put a granny flat on it for dual income,” Ms Latham said.

“The buyer saw it for the first time today and bought it as an investment for his family.

“The seller was actually the NSW Land and Housing Corporation.”

MELBOURNE

Ray White Victoria chief auctioneer Jeremy Tyrrell said auction activity was back up this weekend.

“Now that the Spring Racing Carnival has wrapped up for another year, real estate takes centre stage with no other major events on the calendar between now and Christmas,” Mr Tyrrell said.

“Property listings continue to surge as auction volume increases to more than 250 this week with 259 auctions scheduled across the state for the Ray White network.

“Population growth continues to fuel buyer activity as inspection numbers are up across the board by over 15 per cent year on year.

“This has also translated to buyer activity at auction with 2.9 buyers turning up on average and two actively competing to secure their dream home.

“And if that's not enough to add confidence to sellers, this week's clearance rate of 74.1 per cent only reinforces there is strong buyer demand and the market is in great shape.”

13 Beechville Place, Craigieburn

• Sold under the hammer for $585,000

• Lead agent/auctioneer: Trish Orrico - 0423 336 636

• Ray White Craigieburn

• Five bidders

Ms Orrico said the property sold for well above reserve.

“The home was sold to a young family with two young kids who had missed out on many auctions with us over the last two months,” she said.

“The vendors are a young couple looking to move closer to family. It was their first home.

“There were screams of joy from both sides when the hammer came down.”

2 Mitchell Street, Preston

• Sold under the hammer $1.321 million

• Lead agent: Ian Dempsey - 0447 556 210

• Ray White Preston

• Six bidders

“We had a mix of young couples looking to renovate and live in it as well as property flippers,” Mr Dempsey said.

“The winning bid went to a property flipper who is going to do it up and sell.

“It was a deceased estate and had been in the family for over 30 years.”

6 Elman Road, Cheltenham

• Sold under the hammer for $835,000

• Lead agent: Trevor Bowen - 0 417 501 327

• Ray White Cheltenham

• Three bidders

• Auctioneer: Greg Brydon, Ray White

Mr Bowen said there were 14 bids in total, and the property was called on the market at $799,000.

“The winning bid went to an advocate who was bidding on behalf of a couple of first home buyers from Caufield,” he said.

“The property was a deceased estate being sold on behalf of the two children. The home had been vendors’ family for 25 years.

“In Cheltenham the market is strong. We’re seeing multiple bidders for homes priced correctly and presented well, but anything overpriced is being punished.”

BRISBANE

Ray White Queensland chief auctioneer Gavin Croft said it had been a record month for Ray White Queensland, despite softening clearance rates.

“Over the past month, 738 auctions were conducted here at Ray White Queensland, compared to the same time last year which saw 578,” he said.

“This gives us a wonderful insight into the current market and the increased supply that we’ve seen year-on-year, with auctions well and truly up.

“With that increase in supply and a slight drop in demand we have seen steadying clearance rates.

“While buyer demand is decreasing slightly, vendor expectations are continuing to rise. And this is where we see the gap with clearance rates potentially sitting around 75 per cent, and sitting between 50-60 per cent.

“We are seeing a gap between vendor expectations and the current market, and some sales just aren’t coming together.

“But what is clear is that buyers throughout Brisbane still have a strong appetite to secure a property, resulting in a record month for Ray White in Queensland.”

70 Evelyn Street, Grange

• Sold under the hammer for $3 million

• Lead agent: Brooke Copping - 0431 067 766 (pictured above with buyer)

• Ray White Wilston

• 12 registered bidders, four active

• Auctioneer: Christian Hamilton, Ray White

“It was a five-bed, three-bathroom home on 422sqm. It was a brand-new build in a cracking location, one of the best streets in Grange,” Ms Copping said.

“Bidding started at $2.625 million. All of our bidders were young families.

“Both the buyer and the under bidder were interstate bidders buyers from Sydney.

“The winning bid went to a family with two young kids who had grown up here, moved to Sydney, and were now moving back.

“There is certainly a lot more stock which has come onto the market at the moment, but we’re seeing properties that are a new build or have a renovation in the most demand and fetching really good prices.”

ADELAIDE

Ray White South Australia chief auctioneer John Morris said there were 80 auctions scheduled across the state this week.

“Very strong numbers for the week, slightly down on last week where we had 90, but so far the preliminary clearance rate for the week is 88 per cent of properties scheduled to go under the hammer sold, with 82.4 per cent of those selling on the day” Mr Morris said.

“Gone are the heady heights of the eight and nine registered bidder auctions, we seemed to have settled into a groove of four or five per auction with half of those participating.

“One really strong number is the auctions scheduled for the year so far. We have scheduled more than 2600 auctions, which would have been unheard of for South Australia only a few years ago.

“It does look like we will end 2024 having scheduled more than 3000 auctions. Not all of them go through to the day, only about 2500, but next year my goal will be to get 3000 conducted auctions or even more.”

23 Primrose Terrace, Rosslyn Park

• Sold under the hammer for $1.663 million

• Lead agent: Brandon Pilgrim - 0438 807 061

• Ray White Burnside

• 16 registered, six active

• Auctioneer: George Kargiotis, Ray White

“The winning bid went to a local family looking to build a new home. Most of the buyers were looking to rebuild,” Mr Pilgrim said.

“It was a corner block, a good size in a good area. It had everything going for it in terms of location, it was a good sized, flat, corner block.

“The seller was downsizing, she had lived there for decades.

“The market has been somewhat unpredictable but our clearance rates are still really high, some sales are just harder than others.

“For the right properties it's still really busy, but everything is saleable as long as it’s priced right, there’s still a lot of buyers out there.”

2 Dawn Avenue, Hectorville

• Sold under the hammer for $1.2105 million

• Lead agent: Nick Borrelli - 0432 270 893

• Ray White Campbelltown

• 13 registered bidders, six active

Mr Borrelli said the auction saw more than 80 bids.

“It suited a range of different people, you could live in it, develop on it or invest in it. In the end the winning bid went to an investor,” he said.

“This was one of the busiest auctions we’ve had in a while, things seem to be slowing down a bit.

"We've had three and half years of a crazy market here in Adelaide, and all good things come to an end, but we’re still seeing some great results.”

PERTH