Vendors hold back early as market prepares for Easter lull
Richmond ranked as the busiest suburb for weekend auctions, with the Melbourne suburb having 21 homes offered under the hammer.
Richmond’s weekend sales included the three-bedroom cottage of former Melbourne Victory captain Adrian Leijer.
His property, which passed in at auction at $1.505 million, sold post auction for an undisclosed price.
The home, renovated by the star centre back and his architect wife Ashlee, had a pre-auction price guidance of $1.4 million to $1.54 million through Jellis Craig agent Trent Stewart.
The Herald Sun reported a Mornington Peninsula-based family will use it as a city pad, the keenest of about 80 groups who had gone through the property at 118 Richmond Terrace, Richmond which was bought in 2011 for $615,000.
The preliminary Real Estate Institute of Victoria results for Richmond had 10 homes sold, with seven passed in. Four were yet to be reported.
According to CoreLogic, the next-busiest suburbs were Sydney’s Leichhardt, which had 16 auctions scheduled, followed by Maroubra (15) and Mosman (14), also in Sydney.
But auction listings are low across the capital cities.
And the auction volumes are set to be interrupted over coming weeks by school holidays, the Easter break, Anzac Day and the May 18 federal election.
The REIV calculated 970 Melbourne auctions, then next weekend (April 20-21) there will be just 60 auctions, given the Easter slowdown.
Auctions will rise on the April 27-28 weekend to around 410 Melbourne auctions and then in early May to 550 auctions.
There were 2268 homes taken to auction across the combined capital cities, up from 1976 over the previous week.
But there was not the traditional huge pre-Easter weekend surge.
CoreLogic noted auction volumes were significantly lower than the week before Easter 2018 when 3990 homes were taken to auction.
“Although the number of auctions remain well below the week prior to Easter last year, the number of auctions held was the second highest so far this year,” CoreLogic’s auction analyst Kevin Brogan noted.
Preliminary results show an auction clearance rate of 58.2 per cent across the capitals, although Brogan added: “Keep in mind that this will revise lower as the remaining results are collected.”
The previous week saw the final clearance rate dip from the 57.2 per cent preliminary figure, but hold above 50 per cent for the fourth consecutive week at 52.6 per cent.
Across the smaller auction markets, Perth saw a fall in auction volumes week on week.
The nation’s cheapest weekend auction result was just $212,000 in Brisbane.
The three-bedroom, 1970s two-storey house sits on an 800-square-metre block at 116 Bardon Rd, Kingston, just outside of Brisbane.
It last sold for $55,000 in 2000.
“As you enter you will see this home could do with a little TLC. A coat of paint certainly wouldn’t hurt, however you will be impressed with this solid home offering a large, fantastic layout both upstairs and downstairs,” the selling agent’s marketing suggested.
The accommodation downstairs could be used by “the savvy investor looking to maximise rental returns”, Sam Fuller, the Ray White Logan City agent, said.
Adelaide had the next cheapest when $257,000 secured another three- bedroom home.
It was 10 Warrigal St, Para Hills which sold pre-auction, marketed as offering “an excellent subdivision opportunity for the savvy investor”.
In Melbourne, the 970 homes taken to auction was up on the 900 in the prior week.
But the week before Easter last year saw a surge, with some 2070 homes taken to auction across Melbourne.
Melbourne’s preliminary weekend auction clearance rate came in at 54.9 per cent.
Melbourne’s most expensive weekend sale was at 9 Mernda Road, Kooyong for $4.72 million after being passed in.
When listed last June it had a guide of between $5.5 million and $6 million.
Sydney was host to 927 auctions, with preliminary results returning a 62.9 per cent clearance rate across 577 results.
The week before Easter 2018 saw 1383 Sydney homes taken to auction across the city.
Sydney has the priciest sale when $6.22 million was paid for 15 Cairo Street, South Coogee.
The four-bedroom house was a contemporary design by MKD Architects.
The resort-style, three-level house came with a 10-metre pool.
It has ocean views over Wedding Cake Island, McGrath selling agent Marnie Seinor said.
Jonathan Chancellor is editor at large at Property Observer
