Archive for October 2017

Good properties sold well on the weekend but stock levels remain low and buyers may need to fight harder for the better homes.

Under the weight of numbers, the Melbourne property market held up well, with the REIV reporting a 73% clearance rate at 6pm on Saturday.

Numbers at auctions were healthy, we felt, and the good properties sold very well, with multiple bidders, and the prices continue to rise.  With lower stock levels, buyers are fighting harder for the better ‘completed’ homes, good renovation options and well-located land opportunities.

Vendors hoping buyers might continue paying ‘A’ grade prices for ‘B’ and ‘C’ grade properties (as they were earlier this year) may need to adjust their price expectations if they want to see ‘sold’ stickers on their boards, as the gap between the goodies and those that are overpriced (and/or have been advised by agents they will get high prices) or with issues begins to grow. As always though, the price quote and skill of the agent/agency remains all-important.

Highlights:

Of note, there were 20 reported homes sold last week over $4 million, many with multiple bidders – some of the bigger ones include:

• 2 Elwood Street Brighton – over $5,500,000
• 33 Grant Street Malvern East – $6,125,000
• 10 Russell Street Camberwell – toward $5,500,000
• 25 Munro Street Armadale – $6,050,000
• 82 Argyle Road Kew – $5,800,000
• 3 Wandeen Road Glen Iris – $5,355,000

‘Land’ Sales:

Some of the better properties, due to auction on November 18

64 Mason Street South Yarra – Nathan Waterson/Andrew MacMillan (Jellis Craig)

5 Lorac Avenue Brighton – Andrew Campbell/Ben Veith (Marshall White)

22 Burns Street Elwood – Nick Jones / Torsten Kasper (Chisholm & Gamon)

14 Harts Parade Hawthorn East – Nick Elmore / Tim Mursell (Hocking Stuart)

‘Off-market’ Properties:       

Off market properties are around in volume at the moment, but they aren’t necessarily priced to sell:

• Larger townhouse, Malvern East – over $4,500,000
• Single fronted home, Hawthorn East – early $2millions
• Family home, Brighton – $4,500,000
• Renovated, well located smaller home, North Brighton – early $3millions
• 90s home, good land, Glen Iris – high $2millions
• Family home, Malvern East – early 3millions

Auction Spotlight:

54 Lucas St Brighton

David Hart from Buxton led the auction, which gave the new owners a solid family home in one of the best streets in Brighton East.

This home offers comfortable family living, although looking for a freshen-up, with four ensuited bedrooms, combined with formal and informal living zones. The home is positioned well on the 654sqm block, allowing for opportunities to add an entertaining area and potentially a pool (STCA) positioned to catch the afternoon sun within the good-sized south-rear garden.  As a mortgagee auction, David Hart from Buxton had clear instructions from the NAB to sell at a certain level. An optimistic opening bid of $1.8m and then $1.9m was quickly followed by a vendor bid of $2.4m to bring proceedings to a more acceptable level. A third and fourth bidder soon joined in, before some retreated. Bidder 3 tried to seal the deal with a larger jump, which brought the property on the market at $2.7m and was eventually successful at $2.71m.

10 Russell Street Camberwell

Hot price and hot auction: 10 Russell St sold for well in excess of half a million dollars over reserve.

Under the canopies of pretty plane trees in Russell Street stood a solid crowd of around 100 people for this auction, which was clearly going to be a good one. The house ticked a lot of boxes and got the formula right with a lot of bedroom accommodation (six toilets would you believe!), a pretty facade and an A-grade Tara Estate location. Auctioneer Sam Wilkinson gave a concise, no-nonsense preamble and it didn’t take long for crowd participation here after the initial ‘beautiful’ $4m vendor bid. Two bidders back and forth at $50K bids, and the property was declared on the market at $4.75m. Bidder 3 joined in later around the $5m mark but bidder 1 prevailed, buying the property under the hammer for $5.35m. Hot price and hot auction – vendor must be very pleased. Not a bad return after buying the home unrenovated in late 2008 for around the $1.5m mark.

Spring auction season in full swing. Securing the good properties is still hard for uneducated buyers.

Welcome back to our newsletter and the last quarter of 2017. The real estate market has returned with signs of continuing strength: there were good numbers through Saturday’s opens and some queues for the better homes. The weekend of 28^th October is usually a high-volume auction weekend and the results are likely to provide direction for the remainder of the year. There is a mixed variety of homes on offer – some tick most of the PPP boxes; however, there are also a number with some compromises (ie tricky floorplan, orientation, slope, location concerns). Depending on where the buyer focus lands, we may see a mix of stronger results along with some pass-ins – particularly if vendors have high expectations.

The increased volume could result in a number of homes also being sold before auction.  The opportunity for certainty can be comforting for buyers, but research and caution should remain. Waiting until auction day could save you a lot of money.

We have noticed mixed results when comparing the sold price with the quoted price range provided at the beginning of a campaign. More often than not, agent selection for similar properties has so far been accurate, but the results have been more varied. At the start of this year, it was considered normal for most properties to sell above the quote range.

But recent results are far more mixed: some homes sell well above the range (although usually with reserves at similar levels), some sell accurately within the range, and an increasing number are selling below the quote range, including some of our highlighted properties this week.

The takeaway message for buyers is that just because quotes are far more accurate, it doesn’t follow that the outcome will be predictable. While the quote can be a guide, understanding smaller nuances within the market, such as precinct demand, buyer demand, property competition, and impact re zoning regulations, may help avoid the disappointment of missing a home that has sold within your range.

Highlights:

‘Land’ Sales:

‘Off-market’ Properties:

Some of the better properties coming up for auction: an architect’s view

2 Elwood Street Brighton – Robin Parker/Kate Fowler (Marshall White)

21 Albion Street South Yarra – Walter Dodich/Zoe Ho (Kay & Burton)

1 Ardene Court Hawthorn – James Tostevin/Sally O’Connell, (Marshall White)

4 Keats Street Sandringham – Jenny Dwyer/Stephen Tickell (Hocking Stuart)

Auction Spotlight:

 39 Llaneast Street Armadale 

James Tomlinson led the Marshall White team for the successful auction of 39 Llaneast St Armadale.

This home is an Edwardian waiting for a thorough renovation. Additional touches to an already strong offering include that it is well positioned in the cul-de-sac part of the street with good 11m frontage, as well as side ROW to off street parking.

This auction was a family affair, and the Tomlinson clan, plus more from the Marshall White team, had a good-sized crowd to work with at the auction. Following an opening vendor bid of $1.6m by James, a couple of bidders steadily moved things along to bring the property on the market at $1.88m. With a third bidder engaged in vying for the property, bidding continued and finally settled at $1.895m for a very happy-looking young couple.

Demand remains strong for properties in good locations and with excellent potential.

28 Connell Street Hawthorn

The Fletcher family was made to work hard at the late afternoon auction of 28 Connell St Hawthorn, which passed in at $1.75m.

A pretty façade portrays the potential for this freestanding Victorian home in one of the best positioned streets in Hawthorn. Extended previously, the home is now ready for its next renovation (within its heritage overlay parameters). This overlay, combined with the existing extension, may have held prospective purchasers back at auction time.

Mark Fletcher from Fletchers Real Estate led the auction, with support from father Rob, brother Gary, and the rest of the team, in front of a crowd of about 60. With the usual silence greeting the auctioneer once the call was made for bidding, Mark was forced to place a vendor bid of $1.7m to start proceedings. A bid of $1.75m was eventually received, which saw a short break for discussions with the vendors. No further offers could be extracted from the crowd, so the property was passed in at this level. The property remains on the market.