Canberra auctions: Slowing market shows as houses fail to sell under the hammer

Canberra’s slowing auction market was evident on Saturday as several homes failed to sell under the hammer – however, agents were still optimistic about making post-auction sales. 

While some homes continued to attract big crowds and numbers of bidders during auctions, less interest during sales campaigns and more homes being passed in were indicative of the capital’s changing market – as was the fact that Canberra’s auction clearance rates fell below 60 per cent in June for the first time since April 2020, to 59.6 per cent. 

One home that passed in on Saturday was 2 Kingsbury Street, Gowrie, which “didn’t come as a shock”, said selling agent Samuel Thompson of LJ Hooker Manuka. 

The four-bedroom home attracted five registered bidders and a crowd of spectators on the day, but was “close, but just not close enough to get the result”, Thompson said. 

“I knew that the urgency of buyers had tapered off, and the publicity on interest rate rises is starting to really trickle through [to potential buyers].

“This campaign started four weeks ago, at the same time that the first interest rate hike happened, and we saw a pretty significant decrease in buyers coming through to inspect the property. 

“But with five registered bidders today, I was delighted to see the amount of buyers and their families that were still interested in quality homes in the area.” 

Slowing clearances in the winter months are not unusual, and current circumstances are amplifying the effect, Thompson added. 

“What we have seen historically in Canberra is that it does slow down around this time of year anyway,” he said. “It is also school holidays, so families are away and have a lot of other decisions to make away from real estate.

“As soon as springtime comes around things always tend to really ramp up, so we will potentially see things pick up again in late July or early August.” 

Selling agent Maddy Watts of Blackshaw Manuka also said she wasn’t entirely surprised when her listed property at 141 Streeton Drive, Stirling, was passed in. 

Bidding for the four-bedroom home reached $1.15 million which was where she had anticipated it to be, “so I wasn’t too shocked in that sense”, Watts said. 

“What did shock me over the campaign, which hasn’t happened to me in a long time, was that the potential buyers were getting a lot of urgency from agents about other properties,” she said. 

“One of them even told the story of how an agent called her and said his vendors weren’t accepting pre-auction offers. 

“He called back shortly after saying they changed their minds and the deposit had to be made by close of business on the day. She then bought the property and we lost her.”

Both agents said that, despite the unsuccessful auctions, negotiations were underway to sell the properties to conditional buyers. 

Watts said the big crowd at her auction guaranteed success once things were worked out in the buyer’s interests. 

“At least 20 to 30 groups of people were at the auction,” she said. “A couple of people weren’t in a position to bid unconditionally, so we are in discussions with those groups regarding conditional offers now. 

“We are pretty confident we will get where we need to be in a week or two.”