Election. Tick.
Footy Finals. Not yet.
School hols. Not over.
Property boom. What?
Guess what: Those who would profit from a property boom seem to have found one. They’re shouting from the rooftops: It’s on again!
Yes, we’re seeing a fair bit going on off-market but at the top end there’s hardly a call for champagne.
With few exceptions, it’s just not happening — all that is building is vendor expectations and when those get ahead of what people are prepared to pay everything grinds to a halt.
The boomsayers risk suffering from holed feet. Gunshot wounds.
Exceptions? 8 Myoora Road, Toorak. A wallflower forever, the recipient of three big sales campaigns from at least three different agents and it has at last found a buyer for — if what we’re told is correct — something like $2 million above where any other interested party was prepared to go. Gaps are rarely priced so high.
This from Top End Trends, August 2011:
… the vendors who have been chancing their arms have had cause for some (very expensive) tears; and few more so than at Myoora Road, Toorak. A real bid of $9.8 million topped by the vendor’s $11 million and a reserve of … $13 million? Yes. “Hello. You’re wanted on the phone. It’s Santa.”
Then there was the new kid’s EOI that was built for such speed that its crash was inevitable. Buyer, meet seller, let’s talk. No? Too simple? Let’s complicate that. Let’s invent another interested party and see how that goes. Nowhere? Thought so.
Also in the casualty dept
We have long argued that auctions are a risky choice at the top end — mostly because those with $5 million or more to spend have better ways to spend their time than on street corners.
Then came Saturday and 193 George Street, East Melbourne.
Heaps of publicity, media scrum in attendance and an owner who had been asking for around $9 million.
Nice day for it. One bid: $4.5 million.
They’re kidding, no?
Apparently not. The auctioneer accepts the bid, passes the place in and, nice day tho it is, heads inside. The expression on the vendor’s face has not been recorded but clouds could be anticipated.
No countering vendor bid? Nothing?
Excellent tactics.
Can’t wait for the Comedy Festival.
David Morrell
Bayside: the talk of the town
While A-grade houses and investment level properties are producing hotly contested auctions and good copy for those wanting to talk the market up, the sign that a market has really turned is when the B and C graders are also being strongly contested — following this week’s results, that is not yet the case in Bayside.
Yes, Beaumaris sold seven out of nine and the Bentleighs sold everything, but a glance over the border into the Brightons suggests the weather there is yet to change — just over six out of ten with sold stickers.
There were, as always, exceptions.
4/28 Black Street — with a great view of the Council car park but conveniently placed only metres from Church Street and the Middle Brighton station caused much excitement and found love at exactly $1 million.
Surprising, but not as surprising as the result a week ago at 11 Black Street where the agent’s “…at least $1.3 million” turned into $1.81 million before it was all over.
Meanwhile, back on earth:
- 22 Grandview Road — sold for $1.75 million
- 98 Male Street — undisclosed, but we believe sold for around $2 million
- 15 Norwood Avenue — sold for exactly $2 million
Those still looking for a buyer include :
- 1 Higinbotham Street passed in at $2.75 million — reserve $3.05 million
- 109 New Street passed in at $2.61 million, later offer $2.7 million — reserve $2.8 million million plus
- 2 Yuille Street passed in at $1.7 million, later offer $1.85 million — reserve a Big Secret.
On the private sale front …
24 St Ninians Road sold after being out and about on and off for an eon. With that history, it was never likely to hit the initial hope of approaching $7 million — our understanding is that when reality set in it went for between $5.5 million and $6 million.
Contrast that with 6 Drake Street. The ink on the authority was hardly dry when a sale was made at a robust $3.5 million.
School hols, footy. Expect more of the above — punctuated by an odd standout — but for most there’s work ahead.
And unless more quality listings appear soon, buyer frustration is likely to continue well into Spring.
Damian Taylor
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