A sea of umbrellas was all that could be seen at 97 Graham St, Albert Park. Around 90 people watched as Andrew Stuart (Hocking Stuart) brought down the hammer at $2,630,000. Two bidders.

Key Points:

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• We focused on Albert Park today and there were reasonable bidder numbers across several auctions. However, Port Phillip has still started Spring very slowly.
• Prices had been falling during Winter and the factors are there for that to continue; especially if any sort of Spring stock level surge is not met by a corresponding increase in bidder numbers – our only proviso is this is a small dynamic market and things change very quickly in Port Phillip.

8/27 Hill Street, Hawthorn

Let’s take a look at a property which sold recently with Danielle Henry of Hocking Stuart:  8/27 Hill Street, Hawthorn. It was a beautifully renovated first floor unit in a nice quiet pocket of Hawthorn.

On  the surface it had all the right investment grade attributes: it was a secure first floor unit, with a workable floor plan, onsite parking, outdoor space (albeit quite small) an abundance of natural light and very appealing neighbourhood views to top it off.

So why didn’t we buy it….?

It was on a Company Title.

What is a Company Title? Simply, it’s where you purchase shares in a company that provides you with the exclusive rights to a defined area. This is very common in Melbourne – especially in older style unit blocks. Company Title has been has been replaced by strata title, which affords the owner a simpler and clearer form of ownership.

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David Oster (Jellis Craig) stands high at 59 Studley Rd, Ivanhoe. The historic property sold under the hammer for $4,300,000. Two bidders and a crowd of around 80.

At 6pm on Saturday the James Million-Dollar-Plus clearance rate was 65% for the 43 auctions we attended. Of those, 15 were bought under the hammer.

Auction numbers were up across the board, but results were very mixed. Fringe $M+ areas such as Moonee Ponds, Bentleigh and Eaglemont performed very well, but Bayside put in an all too familiar poor performance – and Port Melbourne through to Elwood had a bigger shocker than Collingwood. Boroondara was steady as she goes.

Overall we saw strong results this weekend, all things considered.

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Bill Jowett (Buxton) basks in the sunshine and the successful sale of 4 Susan St, Sandringham. Three bidders, bought under the hammer for $1,400,000.

Key Points:

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• We attended nine auctions across Bayside this weekend. Of those, only two were bought under the hammer.
• While Brighton was very average at auction today, it was the stellar performer for stales (long term unsolds) over $3m+ this week. Behind closed doors at Kay and Burton, there was plenty of action.
• We have a special report for you on Monday on $3m+ homes. The upshot is that we should see more new stock coming onto the market over $3m, while new sellers of homes around $2m are becoming less inclined to dip their toe in the water
• Three apartments/townhouses in the Golden Mile were sold by Kay and Burton over $3,000,000 each - Justin Follett of Kay and Burton

Mark Earle (Buxton) intent on selling 11 Comport Street, Beaumaris. Two bidders and a sale price of $1,204,000.

Key Points:

• Very little on offer at auction today
• It was the second largest new stock week since March – note our new stock graph below.
• A property of 1800sqm in Heath St Sandringham failed to attract a bidder, in fact neither did much of Sandringham.
• A quiet $3m+ sale at 31 Black St Brighton, as reported by JP Dixon
• Who said we are not affected by the election in Bayside? – see below graph

Agent Comments on $3M+ market

John Clarkson, Hocking Stuart: “Things are tight over $3m; stock is out there but some vendors are listening to buyers and some are in the stratosphere. There are still buyers but not the frenetic activity we saw earlier this year. There are still buyers willing to pay that sort of money for the right property in the market.”

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Yet another pass in 49 Farrell Street, Port Melbourne. Andrew Stuart of Hocking Stuart searching for Bidders.

Over the past two weeks we have reviewed more than 900 properties in Melbourne’s blue Chip suburbs. Of those properties, 35 were flagged for inspection. Properties are excluded using strict criteria which includes the review of attributes like aspect, light, size, number of levels & legal ownership.

Post inspections, 7 of these properties have been selected as being James Investment Grade: In other words, less than 1% of properties that have come onto the market recently. These properties are hard to find and also hard to fault.

Speaking about the market, generally yields are between 2.5% to 4.5% depending on the type and size of the property. In contrast to this time last year, yields were around 3.5% to 5.5%. The fall in yields is due to recent price rises, whilst rents have remained relatively steady over the same period.

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A Grey Day across Bayside for most sellers and 12 Margarita Street Hampton was no different. 0 bidders

Key Points:

• Only two good auction sales today with 8 bidders between them:
  18 Central Avenue Black Rock – Errol Driver of Hodges – $1,147,000
  48 Mills St Hampton – Stephen Tickell of Hocking Stuart – $1,560,000
• The other 8 auctions had 5 bidders in total
• Couple of $3,000,000 pass-ins in Bayside – possibly reflective of the large stock overhang at this level in the area.
• Clearance Rates suggests Bayside is the weakest $M+ market at present.

Activity well down on a month ago

Agent Comments - This week we asked if the election was affecting the market

John Clarkson, Hocking Stuart: “Put some buyers into a holding pattern at the top end, more so than the lower end which has a negligible effect; (it’s affected) sellers, which is strange because most people are around election weekend.”

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Hampton 48 Mills: Stephen Tickell straining everything to get that last drop of cash from the auction. 3 bidders. Bought for $1,560,000.

At 6pm on Saturday the James Million-Dollar-Plus clearance rate was 49% for the 37 auctions we attended. By 8pm it was 62% (seemingly a balanced result between buyer and seller).

Bidderman, our Demand Indicator, was at 1.6 – a level we feel continues to be a good representation of current demand: borderline – a  market that may be in balance but is on an edge.

Issues
This weekend was the first solid and uninterrupted auction market test since we all stopped for school holidays at the end of June. At that time we were seeing prices falling on big stock numbers. Since then the market has mopped up more than we expected. However the last few weeks have been very quiet. Saturday was no different – quiet – despite the largest auction offering for a month. With good stock tightening and an election interruption coming, it is looking more and more likely that the market will continue to flounder and gyrate until Spring.

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What a funny lot we are at auction! Check out the Expressions! Malvern 4 Grace: Marcus Chiminello and Justin Long: 4 bidders, Bought After Auction

At 6pm on Saturday the James Million-Dollar-Plus clearance rate was 59% for the 31 auctions we attended.

Bidderman was at 1.5 – a more representative number than last week’s 2.2 we think. 

Main Points:

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• A significant, but largely expected, drop in activity and dollar value
• 3 Longstaff Kew East – sold by Glen Coutinho of Hocking Stuart, had a crowd of 80 with 5 bidders and was bought for $1,413,000. This one was all about the renovation and not the position, home rather than location. See our report and click onto our ratings below.

Balwyn North 12 Ajana: 'Mmmm - it is quiet today.' Toby Parker. Passed In $1,600,000, No bidders

Not much happening today, with one of the quietest non-holiday Boroondara auction weeks I can remember. There were 11 auctions and seven sold. In May we were running at four times this almost every week. Very few private sales either.

Bidderman was irrelevant on such small numbers. The highlights were:

3 Longstaff Kew East – Glen Coutinho of Hocking Stuart which had a crowd of 80 and 5 bidders and was bought for $1,413,000. This one was all about the renovation and not the position. It really was a matter of home over location. See our report and click onto our ratings below.

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