The final week of July saw 1,534 homes taken to auction across the combined capital cities, returning a sluggish preliminary auction clearance rate of 58.4 per cent.

Last week, the final auction clearance rate came in at 57.0 per cent across 1,257 auctions, the highest clearance rate seen since the week ending 13 May 2018, although volumes were much higher then.

Although auctions are slowly starting to pick up across the capital cities, current volumes remain lower than this time last year when 1,987 auctions were held and a clearance rate of 68.7 per cent was recorded. 

screen_shot_2018-07-30_at_9.09.09_am.png

Source: CoreLogic

Two high profile properties fail to sell at auction

It was a disappointing weekend for two vendors on the Sunshine Coast and in Perth.

Dubbed "Australia's ultimate horse property" Montana Park on the Sunshine Coast, which even has its own website, was passed in over the weekend.

Owner Dean Shannon, the former chief of Ladbrokes Australia and now the managing director of the Neds gambling website, failed to find a buyer.

The bidding at the onsite Sunday auction stopped at $5.6 million for the 1,804 sqm homestead set across 104 acres of lush rolling hills.

Negotiations are now underway with a number of interested parties.

236-mountain-view-road-maleny-7cb45dbd-971b-4bd1-bb79-34fb628ff25f.jpg

Montana Park in Maleny went to auction over the weekend through Lew Pottinger of Ray White Buderim as featured on Luxury List

Despite failing to sell at auction, listing agent Lew Pottinger from Ray White Buderim told WILLIAMS MEDIA the property has attracted significant interest from potential buyers across Australia and from multiple international buyers looking to secure property in one of Queensland’s most desirable and high growth regions.

Related reading: Montana Park: the Sunshine Coast’s ultimate horse property

While Montana Park has piqued the interest of those thousands of miles away, one potential buyer is just down the highway in Brisbane.

Kerry Higgins, the mother of Chelsea Higgins who was recently featured on ABC’s Australian Story about her miraculous recovery from nine days in a coma after a terrible horse-riding accident, has expressed her keen interest in the unique property.

236-mountain-view-road-maleny-c2e27cd0-bf7d-4508-9d97-7fdfcdf2f3e5.jpg

Montana Park in Maleny went to auction over the weekend Lew Pottinger of Ray White Buderim as featured on Luxury List

“We have fallen in love with Montana Park ― this really is a magical property which appeals to us on so many levels,” Ms Higgins said after inspecting the property last week.

Meanwhile, the infamous ‘Taj on Swan’ trophy estate in the Perth suburb of Peppermint Grove also failed to sell at auction on Saturday despite being dubbed Australia's ‘most famous block of land’.

Once owned by flamboyant billionaire tycoons, Pankaj and Radhika Oswal, the top bid at auction was $15.6 million.

Negotiations are now underway, with three of the five registered parties competing for the site. 

Melbourne

There were 803 auctions held in Melbourne this week with a preliminary clearance rate of 60.3 per cent, after last week saw 613 homes go under the hammer, returning a final clearance rate of 59.9 per cent.

Over the same week last year, 956 auctions were held across the city and a clearance rate of 75.6 per cent was recorded.

Sam Rigopoulos, an agent at Jellis Craig Brunswick, told WILLIAMS MEDIA the buyer pool in Melbourne is diminishing because people are having difficulty raising loan finance.

"What tends to happen in these markets is they get bumpy with clearance rates, which cuts out passive sellers who only sell if the market is looking good. And as a result, stock starts to dry up," he said.

1a-thomas-street-camberwell-60f9177a-7d22-465a-9d3c-4829610cd529.jpg

1A Thomas Street, Camberwell which was passed in over the weekend for $1.5m by Tim Heavyside and Brooke Warwick of Fletchers as featured on Luxury List.

REIV CEO, Gil King told WILLIAMS MEDIA regional Victoria is continuing its strong run.

“Regional Victoria continued its strong run with an average 78 per cent clearance rate from 32 auctions, half of which were in Greater Geelong," King said.

"Reservoir and Craigieburn were the top suburbs last week with 12 and 10 auction sales respectively.

“All six auctions in Ascot Vale cleared, as did the five held in Ocean Grove," King said.

Sydney

Sydney was host to 465 auctions this week with preliminary results showing a clearance rate of 56.6 per cent.

Last week, the final auction clearance rate for Sydney was 55.2 per cent across 407 auctions after the previous week saw the clearance rate drop to just 46.9 per cent.

When the final results are released later in the week, it’s likely that the final clearance rate for Sydney will revise down to the low 50 per cent mark.

"In the field agents are still reporting low levels of buyer interest, which we anticipate will keep clearance rates at this level for the coming month," REINSW President, Leanne Pilkington told WILLIAMS MEDIA.

Chris Wilkins, of Ray White Drummoyne, says a "lack of urgency and a degree of pressure all centred around buyers is placing attention on reserve prices and sellers expectations."

"This is being driven in part by the Banks and their stricter borrowing constraints being placed on buyers which is reducing the approval levels and hence limiting buyers ability to bid as their budgets are being reined in," he told WILLIAMS MEDIA.

17-tramway-road-north-avoca-484ebe63-7daf-4ced-b07f-c63337f698d8.jpg

The nervousness in the Sydney market over recent weeks as clearance rates tumbled has prompted some buyers to sell before auction. 

"Selling properties prior generally indicates bullish interest from buyers looking to close out the sale early and not risk competition on the day, however, it can also indicate a lack of strong interest in the property - so the sellers look for an early and sometimes more modest exit to conclude the deal," Real Estate Institute of New South Wales Deputy President, Peter Matthews, told WILLIAMS MEDIA.

"With clearance rates being excepted as an indicator of the strength of the market, buyer interest and inspection numbers remain at a reasonably healthy level, and whilst properties may not find a buyer in the first four weeks of the auction marketing, there are many deals being done post auction," Matthews said.

Across the smaller auction markets, the highest preliminary clearance rate was recorded in Canberra where 72.2 per cent of the 36 reported auctions were successful.

With the exception of Tasmania where no auctions were held this week, Canberra was the only city to see a fall in auction volumes with 46 auctions held across the city this week, down from 52 last week.

Related reading:

Slowdown in clearance rates not necessarily an indication of the market

Brisbane one bedder sells for $2.6m

Demand from downsizers for prestige property pushes Brisbane onto international stage