No spring thaw for Melbourne home sales
In the first weekend of spring auctions Melbourne had just one premium offering: a two-storey Toorak home that was passed in with no bid.
In the first weekend of spring auctions Melbourne had just one premium offering: a two-storey Toorak home that was passed in with no bid.
The four-bedroom home at 816 Orrong Rd had been listed with revised $5.5m to $6m expectations. The near-riverfront on 863sq m of land backing onto historic Edzell House was being offered for the first time since 1959, when it was bought for £10,600.
It was offered by the executers of the acclaimed scientist Derek Denton, who died last November at 98, and his wife, the pioneering ballet dancer Dame Margaret Scott, who died in 2019. They had two sons.
Denton, the founding director of the Howard Florey Institute, published many books, including Metabolic Aspects of Surgery; The Hunger for Salt: An Anthropological, Physiological and Medical Analysis; and The Primordial Emotions: The Dawning of Consciousness.
The home, which was owned by the Baillieu family for two decades from the 1930s, had initially hit the market in June with $6.6m to $7.2m hopes.
Its Nelson Alexander listing agent Jon McKenna was the only one in the auction crowd of 40 to place bids: $5.4m and $5.5m vendor bids.
“Despite auctioneer Mark Verrocchi’s best efforts, the property was passed in with no bids made,” buyer’s agent Mal James noted.
At Brighton, a dated 7 Kinane St listing was another vendor bid auction outcome, with Matthew Pillios at Marshall White forced to place a $4.8m bid after rejecting a $4.5m offer.
The five-bedroom, three-bathroom home on 800sq m was being offered for the first time in four decades, as Melbourne’s bayside most expensive weekend offering.
“Melbourne’s early spring auction market opened on a subdued note with signs of weakening,”Jamesnoted.
“The current scenario indicates a cooling trend, a surprise given expectations of a pick-up during low inventory periods.”
He suggested there had been a shift in sentiment since June, with increasing unreported pass-ins possibly distorting clearance rates and leading to an y inflated impression of market strength.
“Despite prices regressing rather than advancing, it’s worth acknowledging that circumstances can improve just as swiftly,” he added.
Camberwell’s crown
Melbourne’s top price was $4,515,000 in Camberwell when four bidders sought the keys to 4 Dominic St, which had been listed with $3.5m to $3.8m guidance through James Tostevin at Marshall White.
The facade of the two-storey, four-bedroom, three-bathroom house is framed by Mount Fuji Cherry trees on its 730sq m holding.
The bidding opened at $3.4m, with it on the market at $4.1m.
Melbourne’s overall weekend clearance rate continued its yo-yoing just above and just below the 70 per cent level, according to Dr Andrew Wilson, the chief economist for My Housing Market, ending at 70.1 per cent this time.
However Mal James put it at 58 per cent after his buyers agency attended 36 auctions, mostly in the east, with $2m-plus pricing, with seven being sold prior.
Coogee on top
There were 17 weekend auction listings priced above $5m across the country, with Sydney having 15, including with the top sale at South Coogee.
The four-year-old home at 15A Cairo St, with views stretching from Wedding Cake Island as far as Ben Buckler, sold under the hammer for $10.5m after 3654 page views on realestate.com.au.
All three local bidders competed.
“The prestige market is firm, we have buyers, and we are getting properties away for great prices,” lead agent Sam Capra said.
“The sellers are downsizing into an apartment as their children have all left home, and the buyers are upsizing into a bigger house.”
Two building blocks in Northbridge sold at $7.05m and $7.7m, $5.55m above their combined 2021 sale price when it was a 1470sq m parcel with a house with two street frontages.
Dr Wilson put the preliminary Sydney success rate at 77 per cent.
“The winter market has clearly provided a positive springboard for the typically buoyant spring selling season,” he said.
“Sellers are benefiting from higher prices, driven by strong competition among buyers for available homes.
“High clearance rates are translating to higher prices, with Sydney house prices increasing again over August for the seventh consecutive month, with prices up 7.9 per cent this year and closing in quickly on the peak levels of March last year.
“Driven by robust buyer and seller confidence, surging migration, a chronic shortage of housing (as evidenced by Sydney’s remarkably tight rental market), the strongest capital city economy and the rising likelihood of more RBA interest rate pauses, Sydney house prices are now likely to record in excess of 10 per cent growth over 2023,” Dr Wilson said.
Home on the Grange
Across the smaller capitals, Adelaide was the strongest market at 82 per cent and Canberra the weakest at 63 per cent, CoreLogic calculates.
Brisbane at 66 per cent had the top result when 88 Uxbridge St, Grange, a five-bedroom, 2020-built house, sold through Garry Jones and Sean Prior at Garry Jones Homes for $3,245,000.
Clearance on hold
Louis Christopher at SQM Research is tipping clearance rates to largely hold at current levels during the spring selling season.
“Sellers are certainly more confident to sell this spring than this time last year.
“There are more buyers in the market, and overall SQM tip a happier period for most market participants, especially real estate agents.
“Certainly this increased sense that the RBA is now done with interest rate hikes will also help confidence over the immediate coming weeks.
“SQM’s measure of final clearance rates has strengthened over the course of 2023, and despite the rise in listings over August and this first weekend of spring, they continue to hold firm,” Christopher said.
PropTrack economist Anne Flaherty expects spring to be “substantially busier” than last year, with the first weekend kicking off with 2400 auctions around Australia, a 13 per cent rise over the same week last year, and she expects this week to be even busier.
Prestige apartment
Upcoming auctions include the Milsons Point apartment of Wallis Wu, the daughter of one of China’s most senior property development industry players, “Frank” Po Sum Wu, the former billionaire founder of the Hong Kong-listed Central China, and reputed delegate to the country’s powerful National People’s Congress.
He has seen its share price fall 75 per cent over recent months.
Wu and her mother Lam Li Wu purchased the three-bedroom, three-bathroom apartment for $8m, mortgage-free, some $1.75m over the reserve in 2020.
It is set in a Mirvac-built block of 12 on Cliff St.
DiJones agent Nigel Mukhi has a $7m to $7.7m guide for the apartment, with 293sq m on title.
The family own many other properties in Australia.
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