Clearance rates remain strong on Super Saturday of auctions

Pent-up demand and vendor confidence have helped Melbourne’s clearance rate remain above 70 per cent during a Super Saturday of auctions.

Super Saturdays in Melbourne are called if there are more than 1200 auctions held on a particular weekend, and occur normally in the lead-up to holidays or long weekends.

Melbourne’s preliminary auction clearance rate sat at  77.4 per cent after an updated number of 1384 auctions were held and 983 results were reported. It is expected to be about 75 per cent once all results are tallied.

Domain senior research analyst Nicola Powell said competition from buyers was still strong, while confidence from vendors, now listing their properties for sale, was growing.

“Clearance rates are holding firm despite the higher numbers of properties for sale,” Dr Powell said. “It shows the strength from pent-up demand, which has been happening now for some weeks.”

While buyers and sellers were confident, agents themselves were on tenterhooks, concerned that massive drops in financial markets due to coronavirus may also affect the property market.

Marshall White Stonnington director and auctioneer John Bongiorno said the weekend results had been a lot better than predicted.

“What was happening in the financial market was playing on our minds,” Mr Bongiorno said. “But it had absolutely no impact.”

He said while the sharemarket was in turmoil, people were looking to property as a safer, long-term investment.

Buyers, including investors, were out in force, unperturbed by the financial markets and were looking to buy before prices rose too high, several agents said.

A four-bedroom California bungalow at 9 Cairnes Grove, Bentleigh, sold for $255,000 above the reserve when it went under the hammer for $1,905,000.

Mr Bongiorno said there were four bidders, with a family winning the keys.

In St Kilda, eight bidders fought it out for a unique, larger art deco-style apartment at 1/3 Robe Street.

The property sold for $1,151,000, well above the $810,000 reserve. 

Gary Peer, of Gary Peer & Associates, said the result left agents stunned.

“We thought it would get some good competition because it had a lot of interest,” Mr Peer said. 

The market was still benefiting from the pent-up demand from late last year, he said.

Russell Cambridge, of Biggin & Scott Richmond, agreed. He said the market had completely turned around from the doldrums at this time last year, with vendors and buyers more positive, especially after the sale of a two-bedroom apartment at 3/37 Yambla Street, Clifton Hill. The property sold for well above its asking price range of $550,000 to $600,000.

The buyer snapped it up for $695,000 after five bidders fought it out for the keys. 

“Buyers are not minding paying a tad more than they did last year,” Mr Cambridge said.

It was a similar story in Thornbury, where a big auction on Sunday saw a villa unit at 18 Tharratt Street sell for almost $100,000 above the reserve.

The three-bedroom property in need of some renovation, sold for $1,047,000 under the hammer. 

Six bidders fought it out for the keys at the auction which ran for around 20 minutes.

Luke Brizzi, of McGrath Estate Agents Northcote, said the property had been exceptionally popular – 90 groups inspected it over the four-week campaign. 

“The bidders were first-home buyers and investors and an investor won out,” Mr Brizzi said. 

Investors also snapped up a four-bedroom home at 46 Black Street, Brighton. The property sold for $3,625,000 after two bidders fought it out in a “very competitive” auction. The result was one of the biggest for the weekend.

Selling agent Bert Stewart, of Buxton Real Estate Brighton, said the home sold well above the asking price range of between $3 million and $3.3 million.

The buyers would be looking at developing the property, which is near the Church Street shops, at some point in the future, Mr Stewart said. 

Also buying into the more expensive end of the market, investors snapped up a four-bedroom terrace home at 118 Beaconsfield Parade, Albert Park.

The selling price was withheld but was understood to be somewhere near $2.8 million. 

Michael Armstrong, of Kay & Burton South Yarra, said three bidders fought it out for the keys in a competitive auction. He said despite the woes Australia had faced, including bushfires and sliding financial markets, things were still moving well.  

“I think generally resilience is the word that comes to mind of the market,” Mr Armstrong said. “Buyers and sellers are approaching the market with more confidence.

“Investors are back at high-priced properties,” he said.