Sizzling finish to summer auctions
Auction numbers surge as market continues strong start to 2021
The summer auction market is ending with a bang amid a rush to cash in by sellers.
Auction numbers in Victoria will ramp up for the last three weekends of February.
Barry Plant offices have 54 properties going under the hammer on February 13, up from the 36 auctions held the previous Saturday.
On February 20, buyers have a choice of 66 auction properties listed with Barry Plant and another 62 are scheduled on February 27.
The auctions are spread through Melbourne’s inner and outer-ring suburbs and stretch as far west to Geelong and south to the Mornington Peninsula.
The increase comes on the back of strong clearance rates above 80 per cent, as recorded by the Barry Plant network.
Many individual Barry Plant agents have reported 100 per cent clearance rates, with those properties passed in selling within a week or two later.
In two auction weekends at the end of January, Barry Plant agents had an average 90 per cent clearance rate, though from smaller numbers.
The market has seen a “slingshot effect” as buyers, who held back last year because of COVID-19, have returned, according to Barry Plant Coburg, Brunswick and Craigieburn director, David Devlin.
“It has been a solid market in 2021, with lots of confidence and strong results for sellers,” he said.
“Four months ago, if you told me that we would have such a strong clearance rate, I would have said `no way’.”
Mr Devlin said government stimulus packages have kept the market momentum going and confidence up.
“There are more buyers, not just in the outer north suburbs and also in the inner north areas,” Mr Devlin said.
Locals and upsizing families from the inner suburbs have driven the market in the city’s northwest, Barry Plant Taylors Lakes agent, Andrew Koulaouzos, said.
“Buyers are queuing up at inspections and we are now getting as many as 150-170 groups at each property, compared to the 30-50 groups in 2019, ,” Mr Koulaouzos added.
“We have had a 100 per cent clearance rate and many buyers who turn up don’t get a chance to bid.”
Mr Koulaouzos, who has six auctions over two weekends, said auction results were giving vendors between $50,000 and $80,000 beyond the reserve.
In the city’s north, sales of top-end properties and more affordable homes are selling quickly.
A strong clearance rate has continued in several suburbs, while some auctions are drawing more than 10 bidders and up to 150 buyers at inspections.
In Mill Park, a three-bedroom house at 16 Warburton Court, had 156 groups at the inspections and 14 registered bidders. The property sold for $783,000, according to Barry Plant Mill Park and South Morang auctioneer Jay Moxon.
Also in Mill Park, 5 Hillrise Court recently fetched $1.095 million, well above the vendor’s $845,000-$895,000 price guide, he added.
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