A few months ago, Brighton East was the hotter of the Brightons. Now the tables have turned. Over the past few weeks it’s been the Eastenders who have let the side down.
Last weekend? Brighton East: seven auctions, just two sales (28%). Brighton: seven out of nine (77%).
Has Brighton had a reality check with agents and vendors moving closer to where the market is? Is Brighton East still living in the past?
Need a truism? You can’t win an argument with a market. Never. Ever.
A bright note (for the vendor) was the result at 105 Wilson Street, Brighton a classic single-level Victorian with all its period pieces intact and complemented by a stunning kitchen and massive family room extension; all on 1100sq m.
The savvy buyers all baulked at the spruiked quote of over $3.5 million and the property passed in after what may be the record for the quickest auction this year (under 8 minutes) without a bid. It sold later when someone succumbed to temptation and ended up paying closer to $4 million; a fair distance north of the vendor bid of $3.55 million. Ouch!
At least there was some real bidding at 4 Ballara Court, Brighton with two contenders taking the bidding to $75,000 over the top of the quoted price range before the hammer fell at $1.625 million. That’s still a far cry from the $1.8 million odd achieved next door only last year. More pain!
Hampton performed well on the weekend: seven sales from nine auctions; but school hols must have started early in Sandy – the solitary auction at 288 Bluff Road was reported as “no bids “. What, not even a vendor bid….?
Black Rock, Beaumaris and Mentone recorded five sales from nine offerings between them; with not much excitement to be seen.
There were solid results from realistic sellers (in the main) in Bentleigh and East Bentleigh: eight out of twelve of the properties offered found new owners.
Elwood was on the nose this week: a doughnut – 0 from 4.
Activity for the week was better in the three St Kildas (main, East and West) even though only six sales were recorded in twelve auctions, a healthy 13 private sales were negotiated with the vast majority being investors or first time owners.
Any lessons in all this?
The Scarcity Theory some agents were praying would come to their rescue ? hasn’t. Yes, there’s not a lot of stock around, but that happens every winter. The lack of supply simply is not fuelling demand.
Economics 101 is bowing to Real Estate 101: regardless of supply, buyers today will not come to the party unless the property is in the right location, has the right facilities and has the right price attached.
And you can never ever win an argument with a market.
DNT
Bayside Balladeer
