February 22, 2024 • 15 mins
In this weeks episode, our conversation exposes how some agents might use the allure of potential bargains to attract buyers, probing the ethical boundaries in marketing potentially sensitive properties. We navigate the intricate balance between seductive advertising and the obligation to maintain transparency, all while emphasizing the importance of agents serving their clients' best interests vigilantly. Moreover, we dissect the misconceptions that buyers may harbor due to deceptive marketing practices, providing a crucial guide for steering clear of potential pitfalls in the property hunt.
Peter's market wrap lays bare the truths behind pre-auction sales and the actual clearance rates that contradict the media's portrayal of a frenzied auction climate. From the post-Christmas surge in listings to the dynamics influencing seller decisions, we equip you with a reality check that demystifies the auction landscape. Whether you're a buyer not to be lulled into complacency or a seller pondering the timing of your market entry, this episode offers strategic insights into the ever-evolving property chessboard.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All down, all silent, going, going, going.
Go on, stop the black noise.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Welcome to the Current Market Insights podcast
brought to you by HarrisPartners Real Estate.
Each episode we chat with realestate author and industry
leader, peter O'Malley, todiscuss the current property
market conditions and provideinsights to assist you on your
property journey.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Hello and welcome to another episode of Current
Market Insights.
As always, I'm your host,kieran O'Brien, and with me
again this week is my goodfriend, mr Peter O'Malley.
Peter, hello, good day, kieran,great to see you, great to see
you, peter.
What a kickoff this week.
I caught Dot and Cross's weeklyemail.
They're a conveyancing firm, asyou know, and they touched on
this week the issue of deceasedestates and disclosures for
(00:52):
agents.
I wonder have you read thearticle or the email, peter, and
if so, have you got anythoughts on what they had to say
about the topic?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yes, I did catch the article, kieran, the email
Deceased estates.
They always a good deal wastheir lead and they refer to the
way agents market deceasedestates and there's an
insinuation there, I think whenreal estate agents talk about
deceased estates situations mustsell, owner bought elsewhere
there's an insinuation to thebuyers that are bargains there
(01:21):
to be had.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
So I must admit, before joining real estate I
would have been of theimpression that a deceased
estate probably was a goodopportunity to buy, assuming you
know there might not be asconcerned about price or you
know it may just be somethingthey need to do, as you say,
force to sell.
And I since have got theimpression from joining the
industry that in fact it reallyis a tactic used by some sort of
(01:42):
less scrupulous agents outthere.
Do you think in your you knowmuch longer experience that it
is something that's employed byagents?
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Thankfully, the marketing of deceased estate in
the copy and as the lead featureof a sale has diminished over
my time in real estate.
Kieran, it's a low-rankmarketing tactic.
There's no doubt that someagents will still use it as a
lure to try and will people into the auction day.
Look, this is a deceased estate.
(02:11):
The beneficiaries want theirmoney.
It'll be sold on the day.
If you're not there, you missout.
You could get it at a goodprice.
So I think there's differentways that it is used by agents
to entice buyers forward.
But at the end of the day, I'venever really dealt with
clientele who have taken theview this is a deceased estate.
(02:31):
We didn't pay any money forthis property.
Therefore, we don't really carewhat it sells for.
If you're the beneficiary of aproperty from a loved one who's
passed away, what I find withmost executors and beneficiaries
is they feel duty-browned toget the best commercial outcome
for the property because it's agift and a legacy that's been
(02:54):
left for them by their departedloved one.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Fair points.
You touch on there the ideathat you have seen limited
occasions, and certainly less soin recent years, of it being
used as a lure.
Where, would you say, the lineis drawn between it being a
marketing tactic and a lure andjust a case of agent disclosure
for the sake of being reallytransparent with the buyers in
the campaign?
Speaker 1 (03:16):
It's pretty obvious on the contract of sale in New
South Wales if it's a deceasedestate not always so,
particularly if it's beentransferred into the executor's
names.
But if it's being sold prior toprobate and the settlement of
the sale is subject to probate,it's pretty obvious then it's a
deceased estate.
And some buyers will ask bothfor interest purpose and
(03:37):
religious purposes, is this adeceased estate?
And if the agent is asked pointblank if it's a deceased estate
, they're probably duty bound toanswer that straight that yes,
it is or no it's not.
But that's a yes, no answer.
That's not yes, it's a deceasedestate and the beneficiaries
are really keen to flog it off.
So just turn up and make anysort of bid on auction day and
(03:59):
you never know how lucky you'llbe.
So there's big differencesthere the way agents communicate
the fact to the marketplace.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
It certainly wouldn't be the first occasion where
agents have used some creativelanguage communication tactics,
whatever it might be, to enticebuyers to come and see their
property for a bargain.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Well, look, dotton Crosset are a law firm who
specialise in conveyancing.
They're pretty big in theconveyancing space and it's a
good topic that they've raisedhere.
It's actually in my first book,real Estate Uncovered about
what a low-ranked tacticdisclosing the vendor's
motivation when they're undersome sort of duress or it is a
deceased estate, really is.
(04:36):
And over the years we've seensituations you know the couple
are getting divorced, they justwant out, they're in financial
difficulty.
There's all sorts of instancesand examples where some agents
will compromise their vendor asa way of encouraging buyers to
attend the auction or come alongand make a bid.
And then there's professionalagents as well that would never
(04:58):
dream of doing such a such athing to their clients who, at
the end of the day, are payingthem a substantial sum to sell
the property.
So as a buyer, I guess you kindof like dealing with a real
estate agent that might tell youa little bit too much.
As a vendor, you should avoidthat agent like the plague.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
No, that's certainly good advice and I think we've
touched on the podcast and youhave in your book certainly many
times that the premise offinding a good agent and getting
someone who is a goodcommunicator but is also looking
to serve your interests, justas we sort of move on a little
bit.
I wonder, just thinking aboutthis and thinking about some of
the intricacies involved, if youare listening, if you are out
(05:38):
there and you've seen marketinglike this and you're not sure
whether the disclosure is actualor whether it's just a bait
kind of pricing system, arethere any pitfalls or any things
that you should look out for tomake sure you're not getting
hoodwinked?
Any obvious signs?
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Look, I think you should never go into the
property market looking to tradeoff other people's duress.
And if you do, karma will comelooking for you.
You know the amount of buyersthat will ring us up as agents
and say have you got anybargains?
Look, the only things that sellat bargains are items or
properties that no one elsewants.
So if you go to David Jonesduring the sale, yeah, sure,
(06:18):
there's lots of things that aremarked down, but they're last
season stock and it's the stockthat no one else wanted.
That's why it's marked down.
There's a great saying in realestate that the best properties
are least negotiable, and I'venever had much time for buyers
that do try to trade off vendorsto stress and that's probably
you built in me, because for thevast majority of my career I've
(06:41):
been a vendors agent, not abuyers agent and if you're
looking to purchase good realestate at fair and current
market, price growth will takecare of itself from there over
the long term, as we've seen inSydney and the way the Sydney
market's going.
Ok, it's got you some you knowshort term gyrations and
challenges, but I think longterm the Sydney property market
(07:04):
is just going to continue to gofrom strength to strength, the
way this country and the city isgoing.
You don't need to go out andtake advantage of someone
because they're in a they're ina vulnerable position.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Absolutely, and I doubt anyone out there would
want anyone taking advantage ofthem when the time comes that
they also need to move theirproperty on.
That's where I say karma comeslooking for you.
Certainly does, certainly does.
Speaking of the Sydney market,I wanted to just have a short
chat today, peter, I feel likewe've been hitting people with
data and stats so frequentlyrecently that I don't want to
burn any of our listeners out,but it is important to touch on
(07:38):
what is happening in the market.
So if you can give us a bit ofa sense of what's happened this
week in terms of you know what'sthe data saying from our usual
sources and what have you seenindividually, Look, coming from
SQM research that we find to bethe best data provider on the
auction clearance rate.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
they're calling Saturday an auction clearance
rate of 59%.
That's a good, solid numberbecause they're factored in all
auction results there, kieran,there's two standout numbers
from the data from SQM research.
This week, for the first timethis year, the number of
properties sold prior to auctionis higher than those sold at
(08:13):
auction under the hammer.
So of the successful auctioncampaigns, 251 sold prior and
222 sold at auction under thehammer, 113 were rescheduled.
That's a lot.
That's a lot when you considerit.
It's 113.
Of 805 scheduled auctions,there was 186 re-advertised for
(08:38):
sale by private treaty and 14 ofthose were just straight out
withdrawn before the big day.
So what we're seeing when yousee withdrawn 14, rescheduled,
113, there's a greaterpropensity from the agents at
the moment to reschedule theauction than there is to run at
auction and withdraw it.
And what the agents are lookingto do there we spoke about this
(09:00):
last week is too much stock cameto market early in the year and
it was competing against eachother and what the agents are
doing is they're not seeing thesame wave of listing activity
behind this first surge oflistings.
So they're rescheduling theirauctions, trying to flatten the
curve out and sell theseproperties off in an orderly
(09:20):
fashion, if that makes sense.
So the properties that areselling and getting reasonable
results.
We had some great salesourselves in the last two weeks.
The prices were healthy and westarted the year with really,
really healthy stock levels.
But as that stock sells off,we're not seeing it necessarily
replace at the same rate that itcame to market to at the
(09:42):
beginning of the year.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
So a couple of things to touch on there.
One of the things that reallyintrigues me is we talk about
these stats and we talk abouthow, in this particular scenario
this week, roughly a third wereeither rescheduled, withdrawn
or pushed to private treaty.
So away from the auction model.
And of the ones that did go toauction, more than 50% of those
sold prior to the auction asopposed to under the hammer.
(10:05):
So, given that we see suchpronounced shifts or movements
in the way the properties areselling, why is all the
commentary?
I see, not just from news mediabut even forums, commentators,
people I talk to, punters,everyone seems to think the
auction market is so hot, it'sso amazing, it's the only way to
go as a buyer or a seller,because it's just so frenzied.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
That's because what the real estate agents in the
media want people to believe andthe reality is is that the
auction system when it's in fullflight is open and transparent,
barometer for everybody towatch and see how the market's
performing.
But you're absolutely right.
There was 805 auctionsscheduled on Saturday and only
222 sold under the hammer.
(10:47):
So you're talking, you know anauction clearance rate under the
hammer of 25% there, but youwouldn't know that reading the
Sunday morning newspaper.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
No, well, that's exactly right.
I mean looking at domains statsas an example, they put the
clearance rate at 72%, which ifyou're an average person out
there reading that, without thekind of critical appraisal
required to go through and lookat the data more deeply, that
sounds fantastic.
And if I think of selling, Isay, well, 75% of homes are
going.
Of course I can be one of thoseIn fairness to domain.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Anytime they quote such numbers now they tend to
bracket it and highlight thefact that it's a preliminary
number.
But whether people areconscious of that, as they see
the headline number of 75%remains to be seen.
Domain do now update theirresults later in the week, but
by that stage people have movedon with their working week.
They're not really interestedin last weekend's auction
(11:38):
clearance rate necessarily, andthere are a lot of people that
we're running into in the marketthat are highlighting to us
that they're seeing pricediscounting of properties that
are going to auction, as theagents are trying to sort of
compete against each other on anunderquoting basis to get the
buyers attracted to theirrespective auctions.
Auctions are gettingrescheduled, as we've discussed,
(11:59):
so there is a case of a littlebit too much stock on the market
at once and it's competingagainst each other a little bit
and I think it'll clear in anorderly fashion running up to
Easter, which is now sort offive weeks away.
Remarkable to think that we'reso close.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Don't remind me.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
And then, coming out of Easter, we're staring down
the barrel of running into thewinter market, which is always a
time for tight stock levels.
So unless there is realmortgage duress out there that
continues to force people to themarket against their natural
desires, it looks like stockmight tighten from mid to late
March onwards, and buyers thatare complacent about the sort of
(12:42):
slightly elevated stock levelsat the moment might not want to
be too cute because they mightmiss out and be waiting another
six months for the spring stock.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
It certainly highlights to me just that sort
of wave nature of real estate.
There's constantly we'recommenting on it's a great
buyer's time because there's anexcess of stock and all of a
sudden it can turn on a dime andthey've been a bit cute,
they've been too quiet, they'vewaited too long and all of a
sudden they are in the majorityand there's no property for them
.
You've touched on.
They may be facing that.
(13:12):
You also mentioned that there'sless listings coming through
than you thought there might be.
Do you have a bit of a sense asto what the major driver is for
that?
Speaker 1 (13:20):
I just think there's a lot of people that missed the
boat getting to market late lastyear or had made decisions over
Christmas, which happens a lot.
So, of the two or three two orthree of the sales that I've
made so far this year, if Ispoke to those respective
clients in December aboutselling, they were not selling
(13:41):
and by mid-February they'd beenon the market and sold.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
So decisions get made around the kitchen table over
Christmas as people discussthings and their affairs, and
some of those sales that I referto were the family residence.
Others were investmentproperties that they just
elected to let go for whateverreason.
So yeah, coming back fromChristmas holidays, I had a wave
(14:07):
of listings that just gotsigned up for January.
So, wow, maybe we're off to theraces here with all this stock,
but that stock's gone on tosell and we're not quite seeing
the same replacement surgecoming through as what we saw in
early January.
There's good listings comingthrough, but it's just not that
New Year wave that weexperienced in January.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Just not the same energy.
So, with all of the things thatyou've talked about today,
would you say that if you are aseller at home, a little bit on
the fence about what to dobecause you've read some of the
media, you feel like you mayhave missed the boat?
Whatever, given that we couldbe facing a scenario where stock
is tightening, Would thatsuggest that if someone is on
the fence and has a potentialneed to go, it's not a bad time
to start the process andpotentially capture the last
(14:50):
tail of that?
Speaker 1 (14:51):
wave.
I don't think vendors need tobe in fear of this market.
Kieran, yeah, like some of thevendors that were in those
failed auction results, they canall sell, every single one of
them.
They might not quite get theaspirational price they're
originally looking for, butthere's a sale for any vendor
with a good property out thereat the moment.
Whatever a vendor will go tomarket or hold off, that is also
(15:11):
dependent in the context oftheir personal circumstances,
that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Yeah, look really good advice, Peter, as always.
A great market wrap and areally interesting topic to
start off the podcast.
I hope everyone who's listenedhas enjoyed today's episode and
found something useful out of it, and for you, peter.
I thank you again for joiningme and I look forward to
chatting with you next time.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yeah, likewise.
Thanks, Kieran.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Thanks so much for listening to Current Market
Insights.
We'll see you next time.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Thanks for joining us on the Current Market Insights
podcast brought to you by HarrisPartners Real Estate, the
podcast providing real estateinsights you won't find anywhere
else.
All down, all silent, going, going, going.
Go on, stop the black noise.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Welcome to the Current Market Insights podcast
brought to you by HarrisPartners Real Estate.
Each episode we chat with realestate author and industry
leader, peter O'Malley, todiscuss the current property
market conditions and provideinsights to assist you on your
property journey.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Hello and welcome to another episode of Current
Market Insights.
As always, I'm your host,kieran O'Brien, and with me
again this week is my goodfriend, mr Peter O'Malley.
Peter, hello, good day, kieran,great to see you, great to see
you, peter.
What a kickoff this week.
I caught Dot and Cross's weeklyemail.
They're a conveyancing firm, asyou know, and they touched on
this week the issue of deceasedestates and disclosures for
(00:52):
agents.
I wonder have you read thearticle or the email, peter, and
if so, have you got anythoughts on what they had to say
about the topic?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yes, I did catch the article, kieran, the email
Deceased estates.
They always a good deal wastheir lead and they refer to the
way agents market deceasedestates and there's an
insinuation there, I think whenreal estate agents talk about
deceased estates situations mustsell, owner bought elsewhere
there's an insinuation to thebuyers that are bargains there
(01:21):
to be had.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
So I must admit, before joining real estate I
would have been of theimpression that a deceased
estate probably was a goodopportunity to buy, assuming you
know there might not be asconcerned about price or you
know it may just be somethingthey need to do, as you say,
force to sell.
And I since have got theimpression from joining the
industry that in fact it reallyis a tactic used by some sort of
(01:42):
less scrupulous agents outthere.
Do you think in your you knowmuch longer experience that it
is something that's employed byagents?
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Thankfully, the marketing of deceased estate in
the copy and as the lead featureof a sale has diminished over
my time in real estate.
Kieran, it's a low-rankmarketing tactic.
There's no doubt that someagents will still use it as a
lure to try and will people into the auction day.
Look, this is a deceased estate.
(02:11):
The beneficiaries want theirmoney.
It'll be sold on the day.
If you're not there, you missout.
You could get it at a goodprice.
So I think there's differentways that it is used by agents
to entice buyers forward.
But at the end of the day, I'venever really dealt with
clientele who have taken theview this is a deceased estate.
(02:31):
We didn't pay any money forthis property.
Therefore, we don't really carewhat it sells for.
If you're the beneficiary of aproperty from a loved one who's
passed away, what I find withmost executors and beneficiaries
is they feel duty-browned toget the best commercial outcome
for the property because it's agift and a legacy that's been
(02:54):
left for them by their departedloved one.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Fair points.
You touch on there the ideathat you have seen limited
occasions, and certainly less soin recent years, of it being
used as a lure.
Where, would you say, the lineis drawn between it being a
marketing tactic and a lure andjust a case of agent disclosure
for the sake of being reallytransparent with the buyers in
the campaign?
Speaker 1 (03:16):
It's pretty obvious on the contract of sale in New
South Wales if it's a deceasedestate not always so,
particularly if it's beentransferred into the executor's
names.
But if it's being sold prior toprobate and the settlement of
the sale is subject to probate,it's pretty obvious then it's a
deceased estate.
And some buyers will ask bothfor interest purpose and
(03:37):
religious purposes, is this adeceased estate?
And if the agent is asked pointblank if it's a deceased estate
, they're probably duty bound toanswer that straight that yes,
it is or no it's not.
But that's a yes, no answer.
That's not yes, it's a deceasedestate and the beneficiaries
are really keen to flog it off.
So just turn up and make anysort of bid on auction day and
(03:59):
you never know how lucky you'llbe.
So there's big differencesthere the way agents communicate
the fact to the marketplace.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
It certainly wouldn't be the first occasion where
agents have used some creativelanguage communication tactics,
whatever it might be, to enticebuyers to come and see their
property for a bargain.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Well, look, dotton Crosset are a law firm who
specialise in conveyancing.
They're pretty big in theconveyancing space and it's a
good topic that they've raisedhere.
It's actually in my first book,real Estate Uncovered about
what a low-ranked tacticdisclosing the vendor's
motivation when they're undersome sort of duress or it is a
deceased estate, really is.
(04:36):
And over the years we've seensituations you know the couple
are getting divorced, they justwant out, they're in financial
difficulty.
There's all sorts of instancesand examples where some agents
will compromise their vendor asa way of encouraging buyers to
attend the auction or come alongand make a bid.
And then there's professionalagents as well that would never
(04:58):
dream of doing such a such athing to their clients who, at
the end of the day, are payingthem a substantial sum to sell
the property.
So as a buyer, I guess you kindof like dealing with a real
estate agent that might tell youa little bit too much.
As a vendor, you should avoidthat agent like the plague.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
No, that's certainly good advice and I think we've
touched on the podcast and youhave in your book certainly many
times that the premise offinding a good agent and getting
someone who is a goodcommunicator but is also looking
to serve your interests, justas we sort of move on a little
bit.
I wonder, just thinking aboutthis and thinking about some of
the intricacies involved, if youare listening, if you are out
(05:38):
there and you've seen marketinglike this and you're not sure
whether the disclosure is actualor whether it's just a bait
kind of pricing system, arethere any pitfalls or any things
that you should look out for tomake sure you're not getting
hoodwinked?
Any obvious signs?
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Look, I think you should never go into the
property market looking to tradeoff other people's duress.
And if you do, karma will comelooking for you.
You know the amount of buyersthat will ring us up as agents
and say have you got anybargains?
Look, the only things that sellat bargains are items or
properties that no one elsewants.
So if you go to David Jonesduring the sale, yeah, sure,
(06:18):
there's lots of things that aremarked down, but they're last
season stock and it's the stockthat no one else wanted.
That's why it's marked down.
There's a great saying in realestate that the best properties
are least negotiable, and I'venever had much time for buyers
that do try to trade off vendorsto stress and that's probably
you built in me, because for thevast majority of my career I've
(06:41):
been a vendors agent, not abuyers agent and if you're
looking to purchase good realestate at fair and current
market, price growth will takecare of itself from there over
the long term, as we've seen inSydney and the way the Sydney
market's going.
Ok, it's got you some you knowshort term gyrations and
challenges, but I think longterm the Sydney property market
(07:04):
is just going to continue to gofrom strength to strength, the
way this country and the city isgoing.
You don't need to go out andtake advantage of someone
because they're in a they're ina vulnerable position.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Absolutely, and I doubt anyone out there would
want anyone taking advantage ofthem when the time comes that
they also need to move theirproperty on.
That's where I say karma comeslooking for you.
Certainly does, certainly does.
Speaking of the Sydney market,I wanted to just have a short
chat today, peter, I feel likewe've been hitting people with
data and stats so frequentlyrecently that I don't want to
burn any of our listeners out,but it is important to touch on
(07:38):
what is happening in the market.
So if you can give us a bit ofa sense of what's happened this
week in terms of you know what'sthe data saying from our usual
sources and what have you seenindividually, Look, coming from
SQM research that we find to bethe best data provider on the
auction clearance rate.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
they're calling Saturday an auction clearance
rate of 59%.
That's a good, solid numberbecause they're factored in all
auction results there, kieran,there's two standout numbers
from the data from SQM research.
This week, for the first timethis year, the number of
properties sold prior to auctionis higher than those sold at
(08:13):
auction under the hammer.
So of the successful auctioncampaigns, 251 sold prior and
222 sold at auction under thehammer, 113 were rescheduled.
That's a lot.
That's a lot when you considerit.
It's 113.
Of 805 scheduled auctions,there was 186 re-advertised for
(08:38):
sale by private treaty and 14 ofthose were just straight out
withdrawn before the big day.
So what we're seeing when yousee withdrawn 14, rescheduled,
113, there's a greaterpropensity from the agents at
the moment to reschedule theauction than there is to run at
auction and withdraw it.
And what the agents are lookingto do there we spoke about this
(09:00):
last week is too much stock cameto market early in the year and
it was competing against eachother and what the agents are
doing is they're not seeing thesame wave of listing activity
behind this first surge oflistings.
So they're rescheduling theirauctions, trying to flatten the
curve out and sell theseproperties off in an orderly
(09:20):
fashion, if that makes sense.
So the properties that areselling and getting reasonable
results.
We had some great salesourselves in the last two weeks.
The prices were healthy and westarted the year with really,
really healthy stock levels.
But as that stock sells off,we're not seeing it necessarily
replace at the same rate that itcame to market to at the
(09:42):
beginning of the year.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
So a couple of things to touch on there.
One of the things that reallyintrigues me is we talk about
these stats and we talk abouthow, in this particular scenario
this week, roughly a third wereeither rescheduled, withdrawn
or pushed to private treaty.
So away from the auction model.
And of the ones that did go toauction, more than 50% of those
sold prior to the auction asopposed to under the hammer.
(10:05):
So, given that we see suchpronounced shifts or movements
in the way the properties areselling, why is all the
commentary?
I see, not just from news mediabut even forums, commentators,
people I talk to, punters,everyone seems to think the
auction market is so hot, it'sso amazing, it's the only way to
go as a buyer or a seller,because it's just so frenzied.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
That's because what the real estate agents in the
media want people to believe andthe reality is is that the
auction system when it's in fullflight is open and transparent,
barometer for everybody towatch and see how the market's
performing.
But you're absolutely right.
There was 805 auctionsscheduled on Saturday and only
222 sold under the hammer.
(10:47):
So you're talking, you know anauction clearance rate under the
hammer of 25% there, but youwouldn't know that reading the
Sunday morning newspaper.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
No, well, that's exactly right.
I mean looking at domains statsas an example, they put the
clearance rate at 72%, which ifyou're an average person out
there reading that, without thekind of critical appraisal
required to go through and lookat the data more deeply, that
sounds fantastic.
And if I think of selling, Isay, well, 75% of homes are
going.
Of course I can be one of thoseIn fairness to domain.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Anytime they quote such numbers now they tend to
bracket it and highlight thefact that it's a preliminary
number.
But whether people areconscious of that, as they see
the headline number of 75%remains to be seen.
Domain do now update theirresults later in the week, but
by that stage people have movedon with their working week.
They're not really interestedin last weekend's auction
(11:38):
clearance rate necessarily, andthere are a lot of people that
we're running into in the marketthat are highlighting to us
that they're seeing pricediscounting of properties that
are going to auction, as theagents are trying to sort of
compete against each other on anunderquoting basis to get the
buyers attracted to theirrespective auctions.
Auctions are gettingrescheduled, as we've discussed,
(11:59):
so there is a case of a littlebit too much stock on the market
at once and it's competingagainst each other a little bit
and I think it'll clear in anorderly fashion running up to
Easter, which is now sort offive weeks away.
Remarkable to think that we'reso close.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Don't remind me.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
And then, coming out of Easter, we're staring down
the barrel of running into thewinter market, which is always a
time for tight stock levels.
So unless there is realmortgage duress out there that
continues to force people to themarket against their natural
desires, it looks like stockmight tighten from mid to late
March onwards, and buyers thatare complacent about the sort of
(12:42):
slightly elevated stock levelsat the moment might not want to
be too cute because they mightmiss out and be waiting another
six months for the spring stock.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
It certainly highlights to me just that sort
of wave nature of real estate.
There's constantly we'recommenting on it's a great
buyer's time because there's anexcess of stock and all of a
sudden it can turn on a dime andthey've been a bit cute,
they've been too quiet, they'vewaited too long and all of a
sudden they are in the majorityand there's no property for them
.
You've touched on.
They may be facing that.
(13:12):
You also mentioned that there'sless listings coming through
than you thought there might be.
Do you have a bit of a sense asto what the major driver is for
that?
Speaker 1 (13:20):
I just think there's a lot of people that missed the
boat getting to market late lastyear or had made decisions over
Christmas, which happens a lot.
So, of the two or three two orthree of the sales that I've
made so far this year, if Ispoke to those respective
clients in December aboutselling, they were not selling
(13:41):
and by mid-February they'd beenon the market and sold.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
So decisions get made around the kitchen table over
Christmas as people discussthings and their affairs, and
some of those sales that I referto were the family residence.
Others were investmentproperties that they just
elected to let go for whateverreason.
So yeah, coming back fromChristmas holidays, I had a wave
(14:07):
of listings that just gotsigned up for January.
So, wow, maybe we're off to theraces here with all this stock,
but that stock's gone on tosell and we're not quite seeing
the same replacement surgecoming through as what we saw in
early January.
There's good listings comingthrough, but it's just not that
New Year wave that weexperienced in January.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Just not the same energy.
So, with all of the things thatyou've talked about today,
would you say that if you are aseller at home, a little bit on
the fence about what to dobecause you've read some of the
media, you feel like you mayhave missed the boat?
Whatever, given that we couldbe facing a scenario where stock
is tightening, Would thatsuggest that if someone is on
the fence and has a potentialneed to go, it's not a bad time
to start the process andpotentially capture the last
(14:50):
tail of that?
Speaker 1 (14:51):
wave.
I don't think vendors need tobe in fear of this market.
Kieran, yeah, like some of thevendors that were in those
failed auction results, they canall sell, every single one of
them.
They might not quite get theaspirational price they're
originally looking for, butthere's a sale for any vendor
with a good property out thereat the moment.
Whatever a vendor will go tomarket or hold off, that is also
(15:11):
dependent in the context oftheir personal circumstances,
that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Yeah, look really good advice, Peter, as always.
A great market wrap and areally interesting topic to
start off the podcast.
I hope everyone who's listenedhas enjoyed today's episode and
found something useful out of it, and for you, peter.
I thank you again for joiningme and I look forward to
chatting with you next time.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yeah, likewise.
Thanks, Kieran.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Thanks so much for listening to Current Market
Insights.
We'll see you next time.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Thanks for joining us on the Current Market Insights
podcast brought to you by HarrisPartners Real Estate, the
podcast providing real estateinsights you won't find anywhere
else.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.