Susan McGlashan (right) of Bennison Mackinnon leads some very happy buyers inside for the sign up of 2/9 Shipley South Yarra. Bought under the hammer $2,195,000. 2 bidders. Strong.

At 6pm Saturday the James Clearance Rate on the 42 Million-Dollar-Plus Auctions we covered was 50%.

Our Demand Indicator, Bidderman, is down to 1.1  -  which is pretty amazing considering that a few months ago it was riding high at around 3.0.

Our Highlights

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

• Of the 42 auctions we attended this weekend, 26 had no bidders at all. Only 38% of homes attracted one bidder or more.
• In that most troubled of price ranges – the $2million to $4million market – only four properties were bought, and as we went to press 11 had not yet been reported as sold.

Malvern 61 Wheatland: Andrew Hayne and Maddie Kennedy of Marshall White - spruiking the spruik on a crisp but gorgeous winter's day: Bought Afterwards in the very early $2ms: No bidders

Talking with James Connell of Marshall White as he scoots off for a bit of a break, he tells me the market is sound with no real price drops. When you get the figure of 140 sales in May for Marshall White, it’s hard to argue with that.

It’s also hard to argue when Kay and Burton’s Gerald Delany (also off on a break soon) backs up everything James Connell says.  (You can see Gerald voicing his thoughts on our new monthly buyers’ video called G-E-R-A-L-D on our marketnews home page.) In May 2010 K & B handled 80 properties and nearly $250million in sales.

Read the full article...(estimated 5:25 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)

Sorry did you say 5 bidders! This is June not April. A great Jeremy Fox RT Edgar auction took place at this home 23 Ferncroft Avenue Malvern East. Bought under the hammer for $3,560,000

Stonnington seems to have got itself back into the game with a second “OK, sort of – almost normal” auction week in the 60’s clearance rate wise. We monitored 23 homes of which 15 were bought; that’s a 65% clearance rate (last week 69%). Of the auctions we  attended 7 of the 10 were bought.

What’s happening? Price reduction is happening. The buyers are there!  Buyers got hit early May with a lot of stock and could see a lot more coming and they paused. That meant things didn’t sell as easily as April, pass-ins occurred and prices dropped. Stonnington sellers have had two more weeks than those in Boroondara to face the “new order” and they have used those two weeks to price adjust and things are now beginning to move again at auction. Welcome back sellers – lets see what happens from here.

Read the full article...(estimated 3:31 mins reading time)

Nathan Waterson – Focusing on Stonnington

Nathan Waterson of Bennison Mackinnon

Kristen: Hi Nathan.

Nathan: Hi Kristen. How are you?

Read the full article...(estimated 3:20 mins reading time)

Which way are things going? South Yarra 32-34 Park St: David Colbran and Warwick Anderson of RT Edgar: Passed In: $3,903,000: Bought Afterwards: 4 bidders

It’s 6pm Saturday and the James million-dollar-plus Clearance Rate on the 41 auctions we attended today was 61%.

Bidderman is 1.7 and it seems to have found a momentary level of some strength on large numbers of auctions.

We monitored 174 $million sales across 56 Melbourne suburbs.

Overall Clearance rate is 60% for those 174 auctions and in line with our James clearance rates – confirming again our James Clearance rate is an accurate measure of $Million Melbourne.

Considering the large amount on offer today and two of the next three weeks, it was a solid result for the market, albeit on falling clearance rates.

Summary Clearance Rates

Read the full article...(estimated 8:23 mins reading time)

• Bayside – 26 monitored – 12 bought – 46% clearance rate

Glen Iris 18 Clyde: "The Boss" John Morrisby letting the 3 bidders know they are a bit short at $1,385,000. Passed In but sure to be dealt with soon if the vendor knows the new market.

Stonnington was surprisingly strong with Park St South Yarra (Warwick Anderson of RT Edgar) going well past $3,900,000 on multiple bidding; 81 Clendon Road Toorak (Gerald Delany of Kay and Burton) selling post auction north of $7,350,000 and 64 Burke Road Malvern East selling before for 3,320,000 or $1366 per sqm for main road land.

The clearance rate was back to almost 70% and our recent frosty forecast for the next month in Toorak and South Yarra now seems as reliable as a weatherman in Melbourne’s spring.

Read the full article...(estimated 2:36 mins reading time)

We know what is happening in the market, but can you tell us why Scotty? Canterbury: 19 Margaret: Passed In. Scott Patterson Jellis Craig.

Its 6.00 pm Saturday and the James $Million+ Clearance Rate on the 36 auctions we attended was 64%.

Interestingly, 20 of the auctions initially passed in. Therefore we witnessed an under the hammer clearance rate of 41% – obviously a number were bought almost immediately afterwards.

Bidderman is up from 1.5 last week to 1.8 bidders per auction this week supporting the clearance rate improvement also interestingly in an environment of increased choice.

The market can’t be all that bad when Kay and Burton is just about to tell you they have sold 69 properties worth over $200 million in May. With a rival agent confirming that 3 of those Kay and Burton properties worth a combined $20 million have been bought in Hawthorn in the last few days. Shakespeare Grove, Scotch Hill and Grace Park (Sam Wilkinson and James Scarff). This is an amazing set of numbers when you look at Kay and Burton’s and other agents less than stellar Toorak “at auction” clearance rate in May.

Read the full article...(estimated 9:21 mins reading time)

Lined up like ducks; but the ducks didn't perform. Prahran 32 Harvey St: Passed In $875,000: 2 ducks, I mean bidders: John Manton of Marshall White (to the left) was the duck hunter.

In Toorak and South Yarra it was 50% at auctions today – which actually wasn’t that bad when compared to the last few weeks. Stonnington today had a reported clearance rate including Glen Iris over $1m of 66% (12 from 18). Not a lot to be taken from specific results today except to say that some average properties on main roads got some bidding interest; cases in point Williams and Orrong results. We reported on 7 and only one property – 48 Park Place South Yarra failed to register a bidder.

Read the full article...(estimated 2:53 mins reading time)

Canterbury: 55 The Ridge: This auction had the hype of Ben-Hur. Auctioneer Richard James stepped out into the limelight ready for action kicking things off with a vendor bid of $3,100,000. Silence. Vendor Bid $3,200,000. Silence. Passed In.

I’ve been in New York and what a difference a fortnight makes. Did I come back to the same place – it’s noticeably quieter! But the market is still turning over big, big numbers of stock – not saying we are going backwards like TOP END South Yarra and Toorak.

Of our nine featured auctions, four were bought under the hammer, two were passed-in and three were bought before. Activity is less frenetic overall than a month or so ago. However homes are still selling in large numbers make no mistake. Look at our analysis below on the list of $M+ scheduled auctions. 75% reported clearance rate with only 2 not reported.

Read the full article...(estimated 3:56 mins reading time)