Canberra clearance rate bucks national trend amid first weekend of online auctions

Despite some technical setbacks in the first weekend of online auctions, Canberra bucked the national trend, recording a preliminary clearance rate of 47 per cent. 

Across the country, a combined clearance rate of 35 per cent was recorded. Sydney and Melbourne lingered around the same figure at 37 per cent and 35 per cent, respectively.

Days after Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a ban on traditional auctions, agents were pushed to adapt quickly to online methods. 

Some agents used end-to-end auction management platforms AuctionNow and Gavl, while others opted to stream via Facebook live or Zoom — a cloud-based video conferencing service — and dialled registered bidders in. 

For some online auctions, sound and internet issues delayed start times and the new method also saw some auctioneers struggle to get a first bid. But for other auctions, it paid off.

For Theo Koutsikamanis of McGrath Estate Agents Dickson, the auction of 9 Ellinor Walker Street in Franklin, via AuctionNow, got off to a slow start but a fierce bidding war soon followed between three parties, which pushed the price to $917,000.

“In a traditional auction, I usually get in front of people and encourage them to bid so it was difficult for me to do that from a distance … It took about five minutes before someone placed an opening bid,” Mr Koutsikamanis said.

According to Mr Koutsikamanis, seven people tuned into the auction of the four-bedroom home. There were four registered bidders with three actively participating in the bidding process.

An offer of $800,000 kicked off the proceedings, which was countered by a $10,000 raise. This was followed by a vendor’s bid of $850,000, before a third bidder entered the race.

Bidding swiftly continued in $1000 increments, with the odd $3000 jump, until at $895,000 auctioneer Hugh Rainger announced the home was on the market.

After a brief moment, the opening bidder declared they were out and the remaining two bidders fought until the end. At $917,000 and no forthcoming bids, the hammer fell. In total, 48 bids were made for the house.

Mr Koutsikamanis said he was “hesitant” with the online auctions at first but was relieved it “went a lot smoother than I thought”.

Mr Koutsikamanis has now booked another five online auctions for the next month, confident that the new method will become popular among sellers despite some switching from auction to private sale. 

“I have changed a couple of auction campaigns to private treaty methods … [but] vendors can remain confident in online auctions because it’s like a normal auction but online and there’s still a reserve that needs to be met,” Mr Koutsikamanis said.

“The feedback that I got from the bidders was that it was easy for them to bid surrounded by family, and less intimidating than a formal auction … They are able to bid from the comfort of their own homes and bid at their own pace.”

Elsewhere, Chris Fredericks of Luton Properties Gungahlin used Zoom for the sale of 50 Crofts Crescent, Spence, which sold under the hammer for $755,000 in three bids. 

The private online auction only allowed for registered bidders to tune in.

The first bid of $600,000 was countered with a $743,000 bid almost immediately after. Proceedings then halted as agents attempted to encourage bidders to increase their offers. A $12,000 raise took the price to $755,000 and with no other bids, the house sold.

According to Mr Fredericks, the auction was “surprisingly smooth”.

Mr Fredericks said Luton Properties will transition to AuctionNow for future auctions but used Zoom in the interim. 

According to preliminary Allhomes data, Saturday’s auction clearance rate of 47 per cent was a tumble from its 69 per cent result in the previous week and a stellar February, which recorded the highest clearance rate since August 2007. 

There were 20 properties withdrawn and seven that passed in out of 66 auctions.

Mr Fredericks noted that with the recent bans on traditional auctions, interest in the market is from “genuine buyers and not just people testing the waters”.

“While that clearance rate wasn’t too high over the weekend, once buyers adapt to the online auctions, the clearance rate will have a strong rebound,” Mr Fredericks said.