Big shift from midweek auctions to Saturday puts Melbourne auction sales at risk: PropTrack, Ray White
Melbourne’s auction market is going through a major backwards shift that’s expected to impact both home sellers and buyers this spring.
Melbourne home sellers have been warned they are risking the best chance of a sale by turning their backs on midweek auctions.
With just 246 homes put under the hammer across Victoria this week as the city’s property market took a back seat to the AFL Grand Final, only 50 per cent were slated for Saturday.
But across the past 12 months PropTrack data shows that figure was 86 per cent.
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During the city’s protracted Covid-19 lockdowns the rise of online auctions and crowd capacity caps prompted a surge in vendors testing the market from Monday to Friday.
By 2022 the share of Melbourne’s auctions held on a Saturday had fallen to just 80 per cent.
PropTrack economist Anne Flaherty said the seeming return to Melbourne’s Saturday auction dominance wasn’t necessarily good news.
“From a buyers perspective, there might be more than one property they are considering buying or to bid on and so it can be a risk to have too many on the Saturday,” Ms Flaherty said.
“And people are more likely to have obligations on the weekends, so it makes sense to have more weekday auctions.”
Ray White Cheltenham and 2023 Real Estate Institute of Victoria senior auctioneer of the year Greg Brydon said he was working to increase the number of auctions he called during the week, as there were clear benefits for vendors.
“There’s less competition from other sellers and the buyers will typically go to the auction that comes first and the Saturday is a back up,” Mr Brydon said.
At a twilight Thursday auction for 17 O’Donnell Close, Aspendale Gardens, a solid crowd turned out to watch the home go under the hammer.
While it passed in, Mr Brydon said it had flushed out a pair of bidders with negotiations continuing into the weekend.
Other agents are already hosting significant numbers of auctions during the week, often in unexpected locations.
Ray White Melton auctioneer Mark Mintoff’s firm sold eight of the 13 homes they put under the hammer on Wednesday night this week, and a further three ahead of time.
With 11 from 16 scoring a sale, it equates to a 70 per cent clearance rate that tops the Melbourne-wide figure of about 60 per cent, according to PropTrack.
“On Saturday people are going to the footy or taking the kids to basketball, and all the other agents are doing inspections … and people are working on the weekends now, too,” Mr Mintoff said.
A 60 Henry St, Melton, development site sold for $675,000 under the hammer on Wednesday evening.
Mr Mintoff said the home had a reserve of just $550,000, within its $525,000-$575,000 price guide, and with four bidders active the result showed how effective midweek sales could be.
“And it’s quite hard to sell development properties at the moment,” he said.
There were further strong results for 24 Fergus St, Thornhill Park, which sold for $725,000 and about $15,000 above the owner’s expectations, while 21 Sutherland Ave, Melton South, snared a sale at $460,000 after being advertised at $399,000-$438,000.
Ms Flaherty added that while Melbourne was the nation’s auction capital, it did not appear to be as adaptable as the rest of the nation with just 73 per cent of auctions held on a Saturday nationwide.
The economist said this likely hinted Sydneysiders were more open to selling on other days.
Overall, the data shows Thursday is the city’s next busiest day for auctions, with about 7 per cent of all auctions nationwide scheduled on that day.
Sunday and Wednesday have switched between third and fourth, while Monday has the least appeal — with just 1 per cent of auctions held then.
While there were just 246 auctions scheduled this week, the numbers are expected to surge in the coming weeks with PropTrack anticipating almost 2500 across the coming fortnight.
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Originally published as Big shift from midweek auctions to Saturday puts Melbourne auction sales at risk: PropTrack, Ray White
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