Sellers hold off as buyers come back to Melbourne and Sydney auctions

Potential buyers were holidaying over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend in Sydney and Melbourne, leading to a more subdued auction weekend in both capitals.

In Sydney 211 auctions were held across the suburbs on Saturday while Melbourne had a few less with 173.

Early clearance rates saw Melbourne’s auctions sitting at 60 per cent and Sydney’s 54 per cent, with some experts blaming a lack of new homes for sale for the softening results on Saturday.

Domain economist Trent Wiltshire said there was less than half of the normal number of auctions in both capitals, which could explain the softer numbers.

“The big news of the past week is that the Reserve Bank of Australia cut rates last Tuesday, and it’s likely to cut rates one or two more times this year,” Mr Wiltshire said.

“It’s likely to give the market a bit of a boost and contribute to Melbourne and Sydney house prices stabilising,” he said.

Mr Wiltshire said because bank lending conditions remained tight and lenders were being more cautious, the rate cuts probably won’t boost the market as much as it had historically.

In Melbourne, auctioneer and director of Biggin&Scott Richmond, Russell Cambridge, said while buyers were returning to the market, vendors were holding out for another peak.

“The observation of the market is that the buyers have come back but there are no sellers. It’s gone from one extreme to the other,” Cambridge said.

Auctioneer with Ray White in Sydney Alex Pattaro said in Sydney units – particularly those under $1 million – were struggling to find a buyer.

“Inquiry and activity during the week has been really positive but anything priced under $1 million is still tough [to sell],” Pattaro said.

While they have been hard to sell, a three-bedroom unit at 3/29 Jauncey Place, Hillsdale, saw an investor make a successful bid and buy it on Saturday.

There were only two registered bidders, with the investor standing firm on their winning bid of $587,500.

Meanwhile, a five-bedroom home at 20 Knowlman Avenue, Pymble, sold well above the reserve for $2.42 million in one of the biggest Sydney sales for the weekend.

Principal agent Rob Szotsa with Stone Real Estate Turramurra said interest in the home had been strong before the auction.

There were three active bidders on the day, with the first bid of $2.3 million setting the scene. Szotsa said the buyers were a young family from Turramurra with two young boys.

“The boys were already playing in the backyard, kicking around a football, as we were doing the exchange of contracts,” Szotsa said.

There was also a lot of pre-auction interest in a four-bedroom home close to the water in Oatley.

The home at 66 Marine Drive, which also had a boatshed and rigging deck, had four registered bidders fighting it out during the auction.

Agent Luke Grosvenor, of McGrath St George, said it was sold to a young, local family looking to upsize their home.

In Melbourne, properties in Kensington and Werribee sold well, beating market and agent expectations.

A five-bedroom, two-bathroom home at 11 Nottingham Street, Kensington, sold for $2.165 million. Nelson Alexander Flemington’s Paul Harrison said the price was $370,000 over the reserve.

“The funny thing is that I sold this house maybe two years ago for $1.795 million, in what most would consider to be a better market,” Harrison said.

“The is the perfect example of how quickly suburbs like Kensington and Flemington can bounce back,” he said.

A family with two children were the buyers of the property, looking to upsize into the area.

Another sale of what was described as an “unusual property” at 56-58 Wattle Avenue, Werribee, was sold for $1.6 million.

The property, part of an historic, former dairy has a heritage overlay. An older-style, three-bedroom home sits on the property which includes a 6215-square-metre parcel of land.

Director and auctioneer with Hocking Stuart Werribee, Eric Bartz said the land could be developed with strict approvals by the local Wyndham Council.

Bartz said the property was bought by a local investor who was most likely going to rent out the home before looking to restore it.

He said the sale was a good sign that the market was beginning to improve in Melbourne.

“The shift in the marketplace has seen investors being back out there and looking through homes,” Bartz said.