Ray White Group Managing Director Dan White said the results built on the momentum of the past few months. “It was another week of consistent and very strong buyer activity, coupled with increased auction numbers,” he said.

“Congratulations to all our vendors who took advantage of these conditions and chose to market and sell their properties now.”

Ray White New South Wales Chief Auctioneer Alex Pattaro said it had been yet another exciting week for the Sydney real estate market, defying all speculation of a plummet in the property market.

“Ray White New South Wales auction day clearance rate is on par with levels pre-virus at circa 85 per cent,” Mr Pattaro said.

“Competition within the market remains red hot with an average of five bidders across Ray White auctions.

“Crowd attendance is electrifying, seeing approximately 50 attendees keeping to the social distancing requirements. “Today's results are true examples of how the Sydney property market continues to defy all negative speculation and reports.”

“The market is very active, and these are real results. The auction kicked off at $3 million and quickly moved up in $50,000s and then $25,000s. The buyer is a Drummoyne family who have been living out of the area but are happy to move back.”

Ray White Turramurra Principal David Walker sold 39 Waratah Road, Turramurra under the hammer today for $1.640 million, which represents a $515,000 increase on the price the owners paid just 12 months ago.

“The owners paid $1.125 million last April and then did a cosmetic renovation on it and just sold today for $1.640 million, a 31 per cent increase in price,” Mr Walker said.

“When everyone is running around saying prices are down, we keep achieving great results.

“I ran a four week campaign and had a guide of $1.5m – $1.65m so we sold at the top of the guide after 100 groups inspected it. The campaign started at the beginning of coronavirus pandemic and we moved the auction from online to on-site with auctioneer Jason Keen.

“There's been a lot more activity this week, so many people are out and looking.

“I think people are worried prices are going to shoot up, not down, as restrictions ease to be honest.

“Across the board inquiry has been outstanding at opens, with good positive energy from all buyers. The time to sell is now.”

Seller Caroline Scarman was ecstatic with the result.

“We are not expert renovators at all but in the year we renovated the big ticket items – both the bathrooms and the kitchen – as it was going to be our forever home,” Ms Scarman said.

“We had bought well but we also put our trust in David, he knows what he's doing.

“I had always loved the Hamptons style but it's a cottage so we styled it to be more sympathetic.”

Ray White Surry Hills Director Shaun Stoker sold 26 Lambert St, Erskineville today  for $1.680 million, with 10 registered bidders.

“The bidders were from all over but the eventual buyer is a professional couple from Camperdown with a young child. The auction started at $1.3 million and sold at $1.680 million,” Mr Stoker said.

The owner, who lives in New York and works in finance, is over the moon.

“He is ecstatic. We have had good buyer inquiries all week with up to 50 groups through most opens, with a congo line of social distancing. Between my partner Ercan Ersan and I we have 40 listings on the board, so we are very busy but we didn't stop working.”

Ray White Surry Hills agent Nathan Briggs today sold a single level Victorian terrace at 29 Trade St, Newtown for $1.325 million after it had been in the same family for 70 years.

“We had at least 30 people watching on as a builder from Epping outbid a lot of first home buyers in this auction. This was an emotional sale as the vendor is in a nursing home and her children were selling the estate. There's a lot more activity around this week. I just had an open with 46 groups through – I had a line formed through the complex to observe social distancing – and inquiry has been huge.”

Meanwhile, on one of the busiest roads in Sydney, this vacant property at 44 Middleton Road, Chester Hill sold today for $940,000, some $150,000 over its reserve. Ray White NSW Chief Auctioneer Alex Pattaro said a local bought the property with six registered bidders. “It's a great result.”

Meanwhile, Ray White Wetherill Park agent David Perco's sellers (above) are happy they sold 26 Karabar St, Fairfield Heights for $1.451 million, some $351,000 over reserve.

That's a new suburb record based on price per square metre which was previously at $1.392 million set by Mr Perco last September.

There was intense competition among the 21 registered bidders – all seasoned property developers in Sydney's west – and auctioneer James Kerley eked out a $1000 bid to seal the deal.

'It was a huge corner block of land on 767sqm – 21m frontage and 35m long – which is a recipe for development success. They were wincing as they paid more than they wanted but that's the beauty of the auction process.

“It's the social proof and evidence of competition.”

Ray White Victoria | Tasmania Chief Auctioneer Matthew Condon said the shortage of properties available for sale across the state continued to create an environment that is conducive towards sellers getting a great price for their home.

“Based on preliminary data from the Ray White Group, although we did see a slight increase in the amount of auctions scheduled, we have seen a spike in the average amount of registered bidders per auction to six,” Mr Condon said.

“It was also great to see that once a property was announced on the market and selling we continued to see active bidding and competition passed that point.

“Today Ray White Victoria had a mixture of onsite and online auctions, regardless of the auction day environment it was great to see Ray White offices continue to deliver exceptional results while providing their customers with a safe environment.

“Overall, Ray White Victoria is expecting a strong auction day clearance rate this week.”

Ray White Bundoora Director Andrew Mizzi is continuing to embrace the online auction method, selling 7 Wordsworth Court, Bundoora under the virtual hammer this morning.

The three bedroom home sold for $738,000 to a buyer from Wallan after attracting eight registered bidders and 34 viewers tuning in from the comfort of their couches at home. Mr Mizzi said this has been an interesting time within the property market.

“The vendors were in two minds about selling their house obviously because of COVID-19 but in the end they felt really confident in what they had and were not disappointed on the day,” Mr Mizzi said.

“We had a total of 80 groups inspect the property during the four week campaign and I think it was the livability of the property that created so much competition for it.”

The auction at 33 Mernda St, Rye attracted a massive 28 bidders causing the Ray White Rye agent Prue Jones to move the auction to an onsite and online split in accordance with state restrictions.

The two bedroom holiday home, only 500m from the beach, sold for above expectations at $631,000 after there were only two bidders left standing.

“The owners couldn't be happier and the buyer was ecstatic as they had been looking on that street for a few years and had never been able to secure anything because it's so tightly held,” Ms Jones said.

“It was a great auction for a number of reasons, it's been such a depressing time and as agents and auctioneers we thrive on excitement and numbers so having that taken away has been difficult.

“But it was a lovely experience to have, there was happiness all around, the sun was shining and we were close to the water.”

In the Ray White Glen Waverley office there were some happy tears from the sellers of 22 Tereva Crescent, Wheelers Hill who sold their property through online auction for above expectations at $996,000.

Represented by Glen Waverley Area Manager Cristine Jones, the online auction for the four bedroom home drew eight registered bidders and saw five participate. Ms Jones said it started out slow but heated up as the momentum grew.

“Once people started to engage, we saw there was more bidding activity. It got down to two bidders at the end resulting in a great sale,” Ms Jones said.

“We were all on the phone the whole time giving people plenty of time and instruction so no one missed out.”

The sellers said they were pleasantly surprised by the Ray White Glen Waverley online auction set up.

“The team at Glen Waverley made it seamless for us and easy to understand – from the moment the house was listed until the auction today and we are delighted,” the sellers said.

“It was really beautiful, there were people at the office working really hard during the auction. It is our first time experiencing such an auction and it has been wonderful.”

The success for Ray White Glen Waverley didn't stop there with Area Manager Tori Liu also selling 23/7 Turnbull Court, Ringwood under the hammer for $546,500 through online auction. Mr Liu said the office opted for an online auction to accommodate the 16 bidders they had registered.

“Once we called on the market, we got a lot of new bidders who jumped in which is good and the vendors are very happy so it was a really successful auction,” Mr Liu said.

“Through the whole campaign we had 76 inspections so that would be great even for pre-COVID-19 times.”

On Melbourne's south-east a four bedroom red clinker brick home sold this afternoon for $130,000 above reserve through Ray White Mount Waverley Managing Director Courtney Matthews.

After a tense auction that saw four of the five registered bidders active, the home at 6 Hilda Court, Mount Waverley sold for $1.37 million under the hammer to a local buyer expanding their portfolio. Mr Matthews said the interest he received on the property is further proof that buyer confidence is still in the market.

“We are super positive about this time, I feel like our office and Ray White as a brand have navigated this situation with confidence and there has certainly been no shortage of buyer demand,” Mr Matthews said.

“Currently, you can only have 10 people at an onsite auction and we knew we were going to have eight and they were going to bring their families so it was easier and safer to do it this way,” Mr McTaggart said.

“Everyone was aware of how online auctions work, we gave them ample instructions beforehand and all were confident.

“We will transition back to onsite auctions once restrictions are lifted but the reality is, Mr Watson can bring the energy and emotion to the room that is needed for auction and as long as that energy is felt then it will end in a good result.”

Ray White Ferntree Gully Partner | Sales Consultant Aaron Clarke knocked it out of the park today at the auction of 4 Rona St, Ferntree Gully that sold for $166,000 above reserve at $641,000.

Mr Clarke said that four of the six registered bidders participated making it an action packed auction called by Ray White Corporate Auctioneer Jeremy Tyrrell.

“The auction was competitive all the way through, the reserve was set well and we had it on the market within the first bid,” Mr Clarke said.

“We had reasonable interest, probably about 12 groups so it clearly wasn't for everyone but those who came and saw it liked it and we were successful in converting most of them to bid.”

“We had a mixture of first home buyers and families bidding, all of them were qualified buyers who were looking at the potential of the block and wanting to build their own home from scratch.”

Ray White Ferntree Gully Sales Consultant | Auctioneer Matt Morris also sold 89 Taldra Drive, Ferntree Gully above expectations for $875,000 with five registered bidders attending the onsite auction.

In Langwarrin, Ray White Frankston Sales Agent Daniel Condon achieved another great result after selling the four bedroom family home at 17 Wade Crt for $596,600 through auction with nine bidders present.

Ray White South Australia Chief Auctioneer John Morris with Ray White North Adelaide Principal Rachel Lawrie in the online auction studio.

Ray White South Australia Chief Auctioneer John Morris said of the 23 scheduled auctions for the state this week, Ray White members dominate yet again with 61 per cent of those.

“As of Saturday afternoon we've got 100 per cent auction clearance for today, we have an 80 per cent auction day clearance rate for the week and an 88 per cent auction campaign clearance rate,” Mr Morris said.

“We're having a pretty good week, we are continuing with online auctions at the moment until restrictions are lifted further but they are proving to be very successful.

“I'm looking forward to the coming weeks with some growth in the auction market share so it should be very good and there should be a sea of yellow gavels coming down very soon. “

Restrictions in South Australia mean that many offices are still opting to keep their auctions online including the auction pros at Ray White Norwood.

Sales Executive Joe Hibeljic's auction at 15 Demeter Ave, Athelstone was first up this morning and sold for $510,000 under the hammer after a fierce battle between two determined bidders.

Mr Hibeljic said the three bedroom family home went to buyers that he believes will cherish the home just as much as the sellers.

“The sellers have been living there for 40 years and these buyers will carry on the tradition of maintaining it and loving it just as they have,” Mr Hibeljic said.

“It's a beautiful family home and we had a lot of interest in it from qualified buyers and we are happy that it translated to some competitive bidding.”

“It was a really successful campaign, over 42,000 people saw it through an electronic medium and we had 139 genuine enquiries translating to more than 70 groups through private inspections,” Ms Lawrie said.

“Everyone is extremely happy and it shows that the market hasn't changed, if people are looking to buy then they are willing to pay. We were expecting a price drop but we're really pleased that hasn't happened.”

Ms Lawrie also said that within minutes of concluding the auction she was already receiving calls for new listings and appraisals.

Ray White Queensland Chief Auctioneer Mitch Peereboom said this week Ray White conducted 85 per cent of all the auctions that were conducted across Brisbane.

“What a week, so much activity across our auctions in Ray White Queensland,” Mr Peereboom said.

“We had 3.4 bidders on average register to attend our auctions and that translated through to a number of results.

“We saw outstanding sale prices that came from creating competition, buyers seeing what other buyers are willing to pay, they're competing and they are making those offers on an unconditional basis.

“These results do nothing but underpin our confidence for sellers that are looking to come to the market right now to recommend that you do.

“We're seeing less properties, less supply, buyer demand is still strong, have a chat to your preferred Ray White agent and see what's happening in your market now because we're certainly so excited about the activity.”

All the auction action in Queensland today was on the Sunshine Coast.

Ray White Buderim agent Lloyd Edwards ran an online auction of 172 Tanawha Rd, Tanawaha and sold it for $850,000 to a rural family from Inglewood, near Texas.

The owners of this  Buderim family home have  relocated to their new property and have given clear instructions we want it sold. Mr Lloyd had only one registered bidder and he worked with them to achieve the sale.

“We had a house on 3.5acres plus a granny flat and a third accommodation studio. So this is triple living in Buderim. It's a great result. If you are going to work from home then you might as well do it on the Sunshine Coast and be 10 minutes away from the beach.”