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:

Read the full article...(estimated 2:46 mins reading time)

• 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.

Bit of traffic at 6 Tribe Street South Melbourne both before and during the big game. Bought under the hammer for $1,493,000. Geoff Cayzer and 4 bidders.

Key Points

• 41 sales for the month of July – only one over $3m.
• Albert and Middle Park combined reported only six $M+ sales in July
• Two BidderBuzz Auctions – both with four bidders and both bought under the hammer in the $1.4 millions. 367 Dorcas St with Gerald Betts and 6 Tribe St with Geoff Cayzer.

Agent Comments re the question of Spring stock levels and new WOW projects

Read the full article...(estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

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.

Read the full article...(estimated 1:09 mins reading time)

39 Park Road Middle Park: Hey what's this guy doing back here with a different guernsey on? Greg Hocking formerly Captain Coach of Hocking Stuart now playing full forward for TBM. No bidders though and passed in $2,600,000. Is this a Welcome Back?

Key Points

• Market continues to be very quiet on low stock turnover but this as expected this time of the year in Port Phillip.
• Biggest sale was in Elwood – 4 Pozieres Avenue -  Leonard Persichetti - TBM – $2,345,000 – 3 bidders

Five single fronted period homes went to the market today.  They sold between  mid $900,000’s and mid $1,200,000’s

Read the full article...(estimated 2:43 mins reading time)

• Albert Park – 80 Moubray Street  – under the hammer
• Port Melbourne – 247 Ross Street – post auction
• Port Melbourne – 222 Ross Street – post auction
• Port Melbourne – 49 Farrell Street – passed in

Investing in your family home means you can avoid, perfectly legally, the tax the government wants you to pay on an investment property.

“Why not live in your money?” one wily auctioneer suggested at a crisp winter morning auction in Melbourne recently.

Why not indeed?

As a buyers’ agent of million-dollar-plus homes in Melbourne, I see people buying and selling some very nice homes in some very nice suburbs.

One thing I often wonder is why, when someone has made money out of one of those very nice family homes, either by design or by accident, their first thought is often to draw on that money to invest in something completely different.

Why would you invest $400,000 in a house in Seaford or an off-the plan apartment on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast when you have made your money in a $2 million home in Eaglemont or Hawthorn?

Read the full article...(estimated 3:17 mins reading time)

St Kilda 45 Havelock: Robert Harvey pleading - but to no avail. Passed In bidderless for $880,000

From Port Melbourne to St Kilda things are very much normal for this time of the year. Something – but not much - is happening. These are Bayside suburbs and sales here are very seasonally orientated.

Of the five auctions we covered this week, three passed in, one sold under the hammer and one after auction. Bidderman was just over 1 but that’s not a hugely meaningful figure this week because, as Michael Szulc of Cayzers puts it, one week we are all chocolates and sell everything, the next week it’s all boiled lollies and lots of pass-ins. On such low numbers it all depends on the stock quality.

There were ten reported residential sales over $1 million this week compared to 25 in the corresponding week in May – or about 40% of the activity now compared to May.

Read the full article...(estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

Albert Park 77 Page: Mr Stuart sure knows how to pull a crowd. A couple of jokes, four bidders and bang: she's bought - $1,290,000. He's still got it!

Of the 10 auctions we attended, three were bought before auction, three were bought under the hammer and four were passed in (with one bought after).  Our demand indicator Bidderman was at 1.5 bidders per auction. So out of 10, seven were bought. That seems a big improvement on the last few weeks. We have seen 20 homes over $1m purchased in a fortnight in Port Phillip.

This clearance rate boost was not completely unexpected; unlike Boroondara and Stonnington there is not much new stock on the horizon in Port Phillip. And, while there is an overhang of unsold properties, there is an argument that this mostly relates to inferior or overpriced stock.

Read the full article...(estimated 3:13 mins reading time)

St Kilda 35 Vale St: Today with the rain, it's indoors, up close and personal. Matthew Young of Buxton firing up two bidders on the way to a bought price of $1,192,000.

At 6pm Saturday the James Million-Dollar-Plus Clearance Rate on the 35 auctions we attended was 51%. Our Demand Indicator, Bidderman, was up at 1.7 – still hanging in there.

PRICE CORRECTION
There is no doubt the market has eased, “corrected” – call it what you like. One easy word to understand  is “dropped”. On a few properties it has dropped by 10% since Anzac Day.  Some homes – mostly the higher quality ones – haven’t missed a beat. But for the majority, what seems to have occurred are minor falls – although that’s hard to prove specifically.

Read the full article...(estimated 8:35 mins reading time)

Not enough pressure at an auction for you? Then why not add a Channel 7 film crew and a new TV series and it's raining and indoors in a small space and you've got Marcus Peters breathing down your neck. Mate I was scared just watching. One very brave bidder and passed in at $850,000. St Kilda - 23 Mitchell.

SUPPLY OVERHANG BUILDS
First some stats. Last Saturday’s (May 29) Auction results showed strong evidence of “auction overhang” in Port Phillip where the clearance rate was 32% clearance rate on the 22 auctions we monitored.

Seven days later the reported clearance rate had lifted from 32% to 45%, with only three of the pass-ins and unreporteds reported as having been bought. On this evidence, it seems a stretch to say that in Port Phillip Million-Dollar-Plus homes are being bought soon after auction. There is overhang elsewhere in $Million Melbourne but not as much as Port Phillip. Which suggests the chance of bargains here.

Read the full article...(estimated 2:60 mins reading time)

Albert Park 144 Danks: Passed In for $2,410,000; but with 2 bidders there should be a result soon unless the vendor isn't aware of a buyer mood change. Karl Gillon of Buxton

With Bidderman less than 1 – meaning more auctions than bidders  – it may be time for a change of scenery for Port Phillip auctioneers unless things turn very quickly or they can come up with some new ideas. And the post auction sales are not happening either according to reported REIV results, so a pass-in and deal later strategy can’t be justified to a seller who is forking out $10,000 to $20,000 on marketing. But the sellers are not our constituency – buyers are. And buyers: you have opportunities if you can find the right home and it’s a goodie. The opportunity comes with your assessment and negotiations skills.

Read the full article...(estimated 1:59 mins reading time)