06 Mar 2021
Ray White Managing Director Dan White said in Australia alone, the group recorded $3.35 billion in total sales in February, up 42 per cent on the prior year. “Every community is abuzz with stories of amazing local sales results. Many people seem to think that these results are caused by a lack of stock available for sale. This is not the case,” Mr White said.
“It is true that the total number of listings on the market across Australia and New Zealand is down 13 per cent on last year and 32 per cent on two years ago. But total listings aren't that relevant as they include all kinds of old stock.
“A more relevant question is: how many properties came to market in the past month? In Australia, in February we listed 5,977 properties which was nearly 10 per cent more than we listed in February 2020 and 15 per cent more than 2021. We sold 4,819 properties in the month. So we are listing more property than we have for the past two years, and listing more than we are selling. And there are some early signs in March that listing numbers are continuing to rise.”
Ray White New South Wales Chief Auctioneer Alex Pattaro said the Easter rush had started early this year with more buyers looking to secure their home before the upcoming break. Sydney members booked a 90 per cent preliminary clearance of the 93 properties booked to sell at auction today.
“With more stock coming to market, sellers are also taking full advantage of the strong market conditions now, opting to sell before the Easter long weekend. We are in the best selling conditions that the state has seen in decades, and this is reflected through record prices and a number of bidders at auctions,” Mr Pattaro said.
“Sellers can gain great confidence to re-enter the market now after they obtain their dream price as more stock is coming on daily.”
The day kicked off strongly in Sydney when retiring City of Sydney councillor Christine Forster and her wife Virginia Flitcroft sold their family home at 535 Bourke St, Surry Hills for $2.705 million. There were four local registered bidders who pushed the price well above the $2,300,000 buyer guide.
Ray White Taylor and Partners agent Jeremy Brink and director James Peach managed the textbook auction campaign. The auctioneer was James Hayashi of the Ray White NSW corporate team.
“It was a great auction with lots of energy. You can feel there is definite momentum in the market as buyers are feeling like they must buy now or they will pay more later given all the predictions of increased prices this year,” Mr Brink said.
“So there's never been a better time to sell. If you have been sitting on the fence and wondering about selling, then now is the time as there's definitely a good amount of buyers looking.”
It was an emotional day for the sellers as they have raised their six children there over the past 10 years.
“Bourke St, Surry Hills is the greatest residential address in the world and I defy anyone to come up with a better address,” said Christine Forster, who was first elected to the City of Sydney Council in 2012 but recently announced her retirement from politics to work for Woodside Energy.
“Bourke St is famous for its beautiful architecture, it is quiet and leafy and its within walking distance to everything. It's just five minutes away from the Sydney Cricket Ground and to the CBD. The new buyers have been looking for a year and they have been renting on Bourke St for five months and they've fallen in love with the street too.”
Virginia Flitcroft was delighted with the result and praised Jeremy Brink for his work ethic. “It has been 10 years for us here and for me it's like paying the love forward to a young couple who have bought a wonderful family home. The buyers flew their mother down from Queensland for the auction and she didn't want to jinx it by putting the champagne in the fridge! SO now they can celebrate,” she said. 'We're thrilled for them.”
“Jeremy has a great manner about him, he's very chilled and we are very happy with the result today.”
Meanwhile it was all happening today for our unstoppable star agent and business owner Ercan Ersan of Ray White Surry Hills | Glebe | Alexandria | Erskineville. At 5:58am, he and his wife Angie welcomed the safe arrival of their third baby girl Winter Belle. And by 9:30am he'd sold his first auction property of the day at 11 Watkin St Newtown for $2.5 million.
And then he backed it up at 10:30am with 95 Marian St, Enmore where some 19 registered bidders pushed the price to $1.845 million. Mr Ersan the property which had a $1,600,000 price guide sold to a local couple from Surry Hills.
Delighted seller Tim Smyth has owned the property for more than 16 years.
“I bought into Marian St in March 2004 and we loved living there. Then my partner had the opportunity of a work transfer to Melbourne and so we moved here in January 2020, and six weeks later we went into the first lockdown so the cafe culture was ripped away from us quickly,” Mr Smyth said.
“But by September we'd decided to stay though and I always knew I wanted Ercan Ersan to sell my house as he'd sold so many for my neighbours in the street. He's a terrific agent, first class.”
The last and furious auction, conducted by James Keenan, was all over in 10 minutes with Mr Smyth on the phone.
There were 10 registered local bidders and at least half were active in the auction conducted by experienced operator and excellent auctioneer Tony Roumanous, owner of Ray White Bankstown.
A local family from Granville won the keys and plan to do some renovations before moving in.
“The sellers are so happy as they have owned the property since 1983. The market is very active right now, and we know how to create competition at auction if you follow the process,” Mr Stephenson said.
Ray White Victoria and Tasmania Chief Auctioneer Matthew Condon said the long weekend in Victoria resulted in a decrease in the number of scheduled auctions, creating even more competition per property. Victorian members recorded an 86 per cent preliminary clearance today.
“Confidence in Victoria's real estate market continues to remain at an all time high. This was evident through preliminary data provided by the Ray White Group, revealing an increase in the average amount of registered and active bidders at each auction,” Mr Condon said.
“On the ground competition was strong with buyers bidding very aggressively, and in high increments to secure their desired home.
“Despite the low auction numbers sellers who chose to auction their properties across the long weekend, have been heavily rewarded with exceptional prices, given the shortage of properties available.”
Superstar agent Ray White Balwyn Helen Yan today sold two properties under the hammer for very strong prices.
In fact, this beautiful Sackville ward classic at 21 Thomas St, Kew which smashed its reserve by $300,000 today to sell for $6.4 million under the hammer was the top auction sale for the Ray White Group. The elegant five bedroom home with a clay tennis court boasts a magnificent view of the city skyline. “Thomas St was an amazing auction, The reserve was $6.1 million and it sold for $6.4 million, so $300,000 over as we had four registered bidders. There were three local Chinese families and one Australian family,” Ms Yan said. The seller, an art lover, was said to be over the moon with the result and impressed with how hard Ms Yan worked for all her clients. Meanwhile, Ms Yan also sold this rare vacant parcel of 739sqm of land in Balwyn at 22 Leonard St for $2.78 million. “Everyone is happy with this top price. In fact it smashed the price of another house which sold nearby today. And this was the land value only. We are so lucky that we got to $2.78 million. I've had some neighbours ring me to say how our campaign was very professional and achieved a great result.”
Selling agent and dynamic auctioneer Angela Limanis of Ray White Cheltenham made the decision to extend the auction campaign by a week to ensure she captured all potential buyers.
And her sellers were rewarded with a great price of $1,141,500 million with four bidders, and one online bidder who ended up winning the keys to the house.
“The house received a lot of interest from first home buyers, investors and downsizers,” Ms Limanis said.
The winning bidder was in fact a local woman who had gone to the Grampians for the long weekend but no stress she watched along on the Gavl live stream and bid over the phone.
Ms Limanis said there was a big crowd of about 50 people, with four active bidders and the owners are so happy with the result. They were in no rush and happy to extend the campaign for another week.
“This week has been phenomenal. We came off the back of an 80 per cent plus clearance rate last week, which has continued throughout our mid-week auction events this week too,” Mr Peereboom said.
“And today in Brisbane for our on-site auctions, it has been no exception. We've had some standout sales today. All price points are active. Rebecca Cuderman from Ray White Marsden today sold 54 Birch St. Marsden with 27 registered bidders today for $302,000, up to our top sale which was 195 Laurel Ave Chelmer, which sold for almost $4 million by Angela Mastrapostolos of Ray White Paddington.
“All parts of the market are performing. We are not just selling to the first buyer that comes along, our driving ambition is to create competition. Let's get the best price and we look forward to these results continuing.
“Now is the time to come to the market with such confidence that we're going to be achieving outstanding sale prices.”
In Teneriffe, where the median house price hovers around $2 million, Ray White Ascot agent Damon Warat took the cutting edge modern home at 63 Kingsholme St to auction today. It sold for a whopping $2.795 million in front of a huge crowd of 100 people to a family who has moved up to the Sunshine State from Melbourne. There were seven registered bidders keen on the five bedroom home near the water built by high end boutique developer Bird Property Development Group. Only two bidders were actually active as the opening bid was a bold one at $2.4 million by local buyer's agent and former AFL player Jamie Charman. “The bidding moved up in $50,000s to $2.65 million between two bidders. The house is unique because it's so hard to find land at the moment and being a new build and not a renovator made it particularly sought after,” Mr Warat said. “Enquiry was great during the campaign, mostly coming from professional couples and families who planned to occupy the home and take advantage of the lifestyle on offer.”
Developer Ben Bird of Bird Property Development Group (pictured signing the contract) said he was very happy with the result and the efforts of Damon Warat and the Ray White Ascot team.
“We found the right block in Teneriffe in 2019 with an old post war home on it. So we ended up with a rare clean slate to work on a good sized 405sqm block with a 10m frontage. I am over the moon with the result given we put a lot of due diligence into the area and the product. We knew what the market wanted,” said the owner of the boutique property development firm which specialises in high-end residential builds in Brisbane's inner city, blue chip suburbs.
But it was in East Brisbane where everyone ready to buy. More than 100 people crowded into the street to see 33 Heidelberg St, East Brisbane sell for $1.23 million, some 23 per cent or $251,000 over the highest offer prior.
Mother and daughter power sales duo, Cathy and Madi Roche have done it again.
“We had 30 registered bidders. There's no way we would have sold prior but we had a tonne of offers. We attracted a lot of interest from all over Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne and even an expat couple in Hong Kong were looking to come home but a local buyer won the keys,” Madi Roche said.
“We have sold a lot in this street now and we have plenty of buyers who are looking. The sellers are over the moon and we couldn't be more happy for them.”
Cathy Roche said the vibe was “electric” at the auction conducted by veteran Phil Parker. “It was insane, we could barely move through the crowd to get to the owners. We had 21 bidders who were pre-registered which is just unheard of but I am so lucky they did! Imagine signing up 30 bidders! Just shows you, there's never been a better time to sell.”
Ray White South Australia Chief Auctioneer John Morris said there were 48 auctions held throughout South Australia today, of which right while Ray White conducted 25 per cent of them.
“This is slightly below our usual 40 per cent plus auction market share but the majority of this week's auctions were held in the week, and some of them are being held tomorrow on a Sunday,” he said.
“So we will continue with our 40 per cent plus streak, way ahead of our competitors. Last week we saw a 78 per cent clearance rate, 10.2 registered bidders per auction, and every single auction had bidding in South Australia last week.
“So far this week we have a preliminary clearance rate of 78 per cent with 8.7 registered bidders per auction and we've met 131 registered bidders at campaigns this week and we have taken bids from 50 of them. So far looking it's looking like a repeat of last week and another fantastic week for Ray white South Australia.”
In front of a big crowd of 60 people, Mr Gupta said the sellers were “over the moon”.
“One thing that has changed dramatically is that the investors are back. I had three interstate buyers online and the local buyers who ended up winning the keys are also investors. The house will rent for somewhere around $430 per week, which makes it an attractive yield,” Mr Gupta said.
“The market has been active, and there truly has never been a better time to sell. People have zeroed in on the fact that Adelaide is an investment destination which is putting the pressure on locals and first home buyers too. Interstate investors are adding fuel to the fire especially in this low interest rate environment and with our stable COVID situation here. The investors are definitely back.”