Is now a good time to go to auction?
The Spring selling season is just around the corner and clearance rates are rising, so is now a good time to sell your home at auction?
An analysis of properties sold via auction versus private sale over the past four years shows that auctions can typically achieve $20,000-$60,000 more depending on the market.
Why would this be the case? It may be that agents only go to auction when the market is red hot, so better results tend to be achieved in such situations.
It could be that the competitive situation created when an auction takes place leads people to paying more than they otherwise would. Or, it may be that the best properties go to auction and the poorer quality ones sell via private sale.
Right now, it appears to be a very good time to go to auction if you are in premium suburbs.
We can see from search behaviour that buyers are back, open for inspections are seeing a lot more people, and there are very few properties on the market.
This is leading to some strong results – there have been some properties going for $200,000-$300,000 over reserve in both Melbourne and Sydney over the last few weeks.
Clearance rates finally crack 80%
Auction clearance rates have now cracked 80% in both Melbourne and Sydney off the back of very low auction numbers.
This is consistent with what we have seen for some time now.
Ironically, it is now both a buyer’s and seller’s market.
For buyers, right now conditions are ideal (low interest rates, tax cuts and access to finance slowly easing) but there is very little to buy.
For sellers, a lack of selling competition is making properties easy to sell and some strong prices are being achieved. It is still very much a premium suburbs story – we are yet to see a ripple effect to other parts of the market.
Full article here