Home auctions on the boil for summer

The traditional start to the residential auction season has proved significantly busier this year, with an unseasonably steady level of activity over the summer.

Heath and Bronwyn Collister, with their children Anna, 2, and Toby, 6, are auctioning their Glenroy property on Saturday. Picture: Aaron Francis

The traditional start to the residential auction season has proved significantly busier this year, with an unseasonably steady level of activity over the summer holiday period.

After a strong end to a turbulent year, buyers, sellers and agents seem to have hit the ground running in 2021. Data from property researcher CoreLogic shows 359 auctions have already been held nationally since the new year, 25 per cent higher than in January 2020.

Forward predictions are promising, with more than 600 additional auctions scheduled to take place around the country this week compared to the corresponding period in 2020, according to data house SQM Research, totalling 1442.

SQM managing director Louis Christopher said the movement was likely coming from sellers who were viewing 2021 as the time to get their affairs in order in a window with few social distancing restrictions, while buyers wanted to get in before prices rose a predicted 5 per cent this year.

“There is no evidence at all that between the end of the property season, just prior to Christmas last year, through to now that the momentum has stalled,” Mr Christopher said.

“If anything, there is even stronger momentum as we start a new year.

“Dwelling prices did rise for the December quarter in Sydney, in Brisbane, Perth, pretty much all capital cities.”

Melbourne has proven the biggest beneficiary of this hastily built momentum following the city’s second-wave lockdowns, which sent the market into a three-month hibernation.

January recorded 191 auctions in Greater Melbourne, with planned auctions for the week to Saturday more than doubling to 439 from the same week last year.

The Collister family are hoping the fervour of the market will help their home in Glenroy, north of Melbourne, sell on Saturday.

Heath and Bronwyn have already purchased a larger property.

“Towards the end of the year … it was all private inspection. What surprised us how many people were interested in our house and even though there was a lot of interest, we are still nervous,” Ms Collister said.