Daily Telegraph Real Estate auction blog: live updates from the property market

The tide is beginning to turn in Sydney’s once booming property market, but there were still some big sales thanks to a mix of buyers who made some puzzling choices at auction.

Auctioneer Jake Moore at the auction for a house in Little Bay. Picture: David Swift

Welcome to The Daily Telegraph’s auction coverage.

It was the third consecutive Saturday with more than 1000 homes going under the hammer and the increased volume of auctions helped cool what was previously a runaway market.

Agents, once supremely confident of delivering big results for their sellers, have been reining in their expectations.

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Many warned only “A-grade properties” were fetching the huge prices that were, only a few months ago, the standard for just about every property sale.

“It’s gone from a nuts market to a normal market,” said The Agency’s Catherine Murphy, adding that the usual rules of gravity in the market were returning.

This meant properties with major drawbacks such as a location on a busy road were becoming a harder sell.

Auctioneer Jake Moore of Cooley Auctions said there was a noticeable shift in the atmosphere at auctions and buyers were no longer scrambling to get into the market.

Part of the reason was the greater choice of available housing, Mr Moore said. The exception was the upper end of the market, which was continuing to fly, he said.

“There is still a lot of money going around for properties priced above $4 million,” he said.

CoreLogic data showed auction clearance rates were declining over recent weeks. Last week the clearance rate slumped to 74 per cent, a reasonably high rate by historical standards, but well below the 90 per cent rate recorded earlier this year.

We’ll keep track of some of the big results with our rolling coverage below.

Originally published as Daily Telegraph Real Estate auction blog: live updates from the property market