As we head into the eighth week of lockdown, the property market is continuing to perform with a distinct lack of stock on the market meaning that quality homes are being snapped up quickly. Our advice would be to sell now rather than waiting for lockdown to end as we’re expecting a flood of properties to hit the market in spring. Since lockdown started in late June, we’ve conducted 2,115 private inspections and in July the sales team sold 64 homes with a total value of $197.7m.

Online auctions are proving to be working well. Our auctioneer Clarence White from Menck White Auctioneers reports that the average number of registered bidders for online auctions in July was higher than in February at the height of the market. Clarence says, “Although auction stock is down by about 40% compared to May and June, clearance rates have remained steady with limited stock driving competition meaning that a significant number of homes are being sold at a premium at auction or sold prior. We use Zoom for online auctions and have created a fantastic platform that not only has a sophisticated look and feel but is very stable and performs flawlessly.

Unlike the various purpose-built auction apps, Zoom technology is much more transparent as it has two-way interactive video capability so everybody gets to see all of the action in a really similar way to on-site auctions. This helps drive competition as buyers can see and hear the other bidders placing bids and both the agent and auctioneer can see and hear the bidders too. The auctions work exactly the same way as a public auction but from the comfort of your own private space.”

A good example of a recent online auction is Haynes Wileman’s listing at 88 Oberon Street, Randwick. There were three registered bidders with two active buyers competing for the five-bedroom home which sold for circa $3.8m after 17 bids. Clarence says that the average number of registered buyers in July was 10.3 per auction that ran, up from February’s average of 8.1 at the peak of the boom. He continues, “The message from the market is that the lack of stock has given another bolster to the market with fierce competition fuelling top results and that’s taken a while to filter through to the media. It’s really just a matter of getting used to the new way of doing things during the pandemic and getting more comfortable with the process. Technology allows us to create a really authentic auction experience.”

This week the sales team secured 16 sales with an average price of $3.3m and listed 13 new properties. Take care, stay safe and keep connected.