Bold move: Pre-auction offers in Canberra versus Queanbeyan

When it comes to making pre-auction offers in Canberra or cross-border Queanbeyan, it’s nothing short of a tale of two cities.

Jason Maxwell of LJ Hooker Queanbeyan says strong offers before auction in the NSW city stand a good chance of being accepted.

“It really comes down to the buyer, their perception of value and how much they want a particular property,” he says.

“I’d certainly recommend our vendors look at accepting an offer of, say, three-five per cent above the price guide we’ve agreed on.”

Maxwell sold 34 of 38 properties before auction over February and March. He realises that’s not happening in Canberra.

“It’s hard to understand what’s driving its buyer behaviour,” he says.

“There have only been a handful of occasions when Canberra-like auction price hikes have occurred in our Queanbeyan listings over nearly 20 years.”

Stephen Bunday of LJ Hooker Dickson says he recommends vendors see how an auction plays out rather than considering a strong offer.

“The market is behaving erratically at the moment – buyers are prepared to spend much more to get what they want,” he says.

“And campaigns are getting even shorter, down to two weeks or just three Saturdays.”

Bunday backs that advice to vendors with examples where price expectations have gone through the roof recently.

“A Florey property came on with a reserve of $1.245 million but eventually sold for $1.6 million,” he says.

“Another in Ainslie had a price guide of about $920,000, and that sold for $1.271 million – a big $351,000 premium.”

• Unusual times. Pre-auction offers may be losing their appeal in the current Canberra in which prices on auction day are frequently delivering well beyond expectations – sometimes by 20 per cent or more.
• What’s driving behaviour? It’s likely that cheap money in the form of low interest rates is providing the fuel, while a fear of missing out is driving the emotion to acquire a property.
• Cross-border stability. Pre-auction offers still feature in sales in Queanbeyan and neighbouring areas. A strong offer of, say, three-five per cent above the agreed price guide may get the thumbs up.

Our top pick of homes on sale in Queanbeyan and Canberra:

Queanbeyan

View property

Price guide: $670,000 – $720,000

Auction: 5pm, May 20

Agent: Belle Property Queanbeyan, Aaron Papahatzis 0419 683 599

Nicholls

View property

Price guide: $1.65 million +

Auction: 1:30pm, May 15

Agent: Harcourts Belconnen, Kostya Logvinov 0421 485 758

Queanbeyan

View property

Auction: 10am, June 5

Agent: Ian McNamee & Partners Queanbeyan/Jerrabomberra/Canberra, Michael Edwards 0415 977 448

Turner

View property

Price guide: $1.9 million +

Auction: 11am, May 22

Agent: Home.byholly, Jenny Michael and Mark McReynolds 0409 300 065