Post-election property sizzle doused by long weekend
Melbourne's top sale was this five-bedroom home in Kensington. Photo: Nelson Alexander
The long weekend disrupted the improving trend in auction results, despite most lenders announcing even lower home loan rates after the official Reserve Bank rate cut on Tuesday.
Although there were fewer properties taken to auction, the overall preliminary clearance rates softened, according to CoreLogic auction analyst Kevin Brogan.
Adelaide saw 42 per cent of homes selling, Canberra was at 37 per cent, Perth on 25 per cent, while only 22 per cent of homes sold across Brisbane.
Adelaide’s top sale was $678,000 for the five-bedroom, two-storey, sandstone-fronted house at 10 Bell Court, Valley View which had been listed with $650,000 price hopes.
The home also included a pool. Photo: LJ Hooker
One of Brisbane’s sales came when $1 million was paid for the four- bedroom Queenslander at Camp Hill by buyers who’d only seen the Saturday onsite offering at 81 Lloyd Street on the day of the auction.
The buyers had been waiting four years to find their ideal home. Photo: Ray White
“The young family from the south of Brisbane had been waiting four years to find their dream home, and when they arrived today, they registered and were able to achieve that dream via auction,” Ray White selling agent Mel Christie said.
The bigger markets, Melbourne and Sydney, retained some resilience, as their preliminary clearance rates came in at 64 and 62 per cent respectively.
Mr Brogan noted the overall weaker national weekend result “can partly be attributed to weaker results across the smaller capital cities with all returning preliminary clearance rates below 50 per cent”.
But Mr Brogan also noted just six out of 15 Sydney sub-regions returned preliminary clearance rates over 60 per cent, which was down from the nine in the prior week, and 12 in the last week of autumn.
The Ray White NSW chief auctioneer Alex Pattaro pinpointed the apartment market as being “slightly lagging behind” houses.
He believes it was a consequence of investors and first-time buyers still having difficulty obtaining finance.
“We believe this will change over the coming months once the finance begins to flow,” Mr Pattaro said.
The post-election housing euphoria had fizzled out into a state of “calm and caution”, BresicWhitney agent Shannan Whitney suggested.
“When you take a can a Coke, and shake it, it explodes and then starts to flatten out – that analogy is quite appropriate for the market right now,” Mr Whitney told The Australian Financial Review.
As most states enjoyed a long weekend with the Queen’s Birthday public holiday on Monday, there were just 803 homes taken to market across the combined capital cities.
The 51 per cent preliminary auction clearance rate was down on the prior week’s 58 per cent success rate when volumes were at 1661.
One year ago, 904 homes were taken to auction returning a final clearance rate of 53 per cent.
There were 216 homes auctioned across Melbourne, significantly lower than the 730 auctions held last week when 61.6 per cent sold.
Melbourne’s top sale was $2.165 million at 11 Nottingham Street, Kensington.
The property sold for $65,000 above the top end of its range. Photo: Nelson Alexander
The five-bedroom, 1900 Victorian-era cottage that had been extended on its 566-square-metre block sold through Paul Harrison at Nelson Alexander.
The pre-auction price guidance had been $1.92 million to $2.1 million.
It last traded at $1.795 million in 2016.
Domain reported it sold to a local family with two children.
Melbourne actually had the nation’s cheapest weekend auction listing when a one-bedroom 1970s Noble Park maisonette sold at $170,000 pre-auction.
The 9/37 Corrigan Road property last sold in 2013 at $168,000, so just a $2000 gain over six years.
Th offer was accepted lower than the $180,000 price hopes by Biggin & Scott agent Ming Xu.
It was initially listed last October by private treaty with higher $240,000 to $260,000 price expectations.
In Sydney, 310 auctions took place across the city, down on last week when 677 auctions secured a 61.8 per cent clearance.
Its top sale was 16 Emperor Place, Kenthurst which fetched $2.95 million early in its auction marketing campaign through LJ Hooker agent Kerry Wilson.
The home sold after just 18 days on the market. Photo: LJ Hooker
The home on 2 hectares last sold at $2.185 million in 2015.
Located in one of Kenthurst’s most desired cul-de-sacs, the property with tiled garaging was marketed as providing an “opportunity for a car enthusiast, small business or tradesperson needing plenty of storage”.
It sold after 18 days on the market, compared with the Sydney Hills Shire suburb’s 63-day average time on market.
On the NSW south coast, a Culburra Beach home sold for $2.5 million at its mid-week Ray White auction.
The home had direct frontage to the beach. Photo: Ray White
The opening bid was $1.9 million, with two active bidders submitting 20 offers for the four-bedroom beachfront house at 186 Penguins Head Road.
Last sold 24 years ago for $155,000, the home was bought by a retired Sydney couple with a lot of grandchildren.
In South Australia, Ray White agent Peter Kiritsis sold 4 Brentwood Road, Flinders Park, for $630,000.
The home had been in the same family since it was built. Photo: Ray White
More than 80 groups came through during the four-week campaign which saw it sold to a local couple.
The four-bedroom house had been a one-owner family home.
“We’ve seen an increase in numbers across the board since the federal election and that was highlighted by the three competing bidders today,” Mr Kiritsis said.
