Malvern 61 Wheatland: Andrew Hayne and Maddie Kennedy of Marshall White - spruiking the spruik on a crisp but gorgeous winter's day: Bought Afterwards in the very early $2ms: No bidders

Talking with James Connell of Marshall White as he scoots off for a bit of a break, he tells me the market is sound with no real price drops. When you get the figure of 140 sales in May for Marshall White, it’s hard to argue with that.

It’s also hard to argue when Kay and Burton’s Gerald Delany (also off on a break soon) backs up everything James Connell says.  (You can see Gerald voicing his thoughts on our new monthly buyers’ video called G-E-R-A-L-D on our marketnews home page.) In May 2010 K & B handled 80 properties and nearly $250million in sales.

In fact, with more than 25 sales at over a million dollars in Stonnington since our last report (June 6), it’s hard to argue the market is floundering. It seems more accurate to say that the market is finding its equilibrium – even if in our mind it seems as if prices, in many cases, have fallen substantially.

Our evidence

We went to 10 auctions today -  two were bought under the hammer and two more were bought quickly afterwards, leaving 6 unsold without a bid. On that evidence  it doesn’t appear that the market has reached its equilibrium.

Let’s look at Kay and Burton’s three auctions we attended:

1 ELDENE COURT, TOORAK Gerald Delany Passed In $2,400,000 – No bidders
With the wind picking up and the temperature dropping, the cold winter’s afternoon seemed to have a distinct effect on the 40 or so people in the crowd. Auctioneer Gerald Delany attempted to raise some interest in the Toorak property, but no bids were forthcoming. He announced a vendor bid of $2,400,000, which did little to change the mood of the crowd and failed to extract an opening bid. The property was passed in at $2,400,000.

6 AVOCA STREET, SOUTH YARRA Gerald Delany Passed In $4,000,000 – No bidders
This was certainly the biggest auction I have reported on. Close to 180 people were watching on in anticipation. Auctioneer Gerald Delany’s projected voice could be heard from either end of Toorak Road as he endeavoured to extract a bid from the enormous crowd. With no bids forthcoming, Delany put in a vendor bid of $4,000,000. This had little effect on the lively mob of onlookers. After consulting with the vendors, Delany returned to give the crowd one more opportunity to make a bid for this unique and beautiful South Yarra home. However, there were no parties interested in bidding at the auction. With no bids offered, the property was passed in.

23 MAYFIELD AVENUE, MALVERN Jason Scillio Passed In - No bidders
With a very small crowd of less than 40, auctioneer Jason Scillio attempted to raise some interest in this beautiful home in Malvern. Having received no assistance from the crowd, he opened the auction with a vendor bid of $3,000,000. No further bids were forthcoming and the property was subsequently passed in. This was a very lacklustre auction, which was surprising considering the property’s stunning design and stature.

So what to make of it?

Price and Strategy: You need to know both if you are to buy well at this time. There are certainly bargains to be had as long as you, the buyer, have the bottle and the vendor has the need.

What Are Your Needs?

South Yarra v Prahran – a difference of $1.2 million, and the cheaper one was in South Yarra.

• 49 Fitzgerald St, South Yarra (Hugh Hardy Benmac) James Home Rating 806/1000, sold for $2,520,000 post auction. Great home. See our auction report and full rating in this week’s auction reports
• 51 Murray St Prahran (Justin Long and Adam Jack Marshall White) James Home Rating 926/1000, sold for $3,740,000. See our auction report and full rating in this week’s auction reports

Glen Iris – 9 from 10 at auction today – Very Solid

Gasgoine
The market was not exactly full of excitement for us on Saturday in terms of quality.  Malvern’s Gasgoine and nearby had three auctions of less than spectacular homes – all three passed in and one sold post auction at the lower end of the range.

Expressions of Interest – Closed 17^th June – 3 Avalon Road Armadale – Ross Savas of Kay and Burton

James Home Rating 922/1000: “This is the Hampden Road precinct and for big homes in Armadale this is the place to be, as you are in amongst some truly great homes in size and architectural quality and this street is one of the best of those. The look from the street in my opinion does not do this home justice in terms of what is inside. I’m not going to do the salesman job any more than to say the only person who wouldn’t like this home is the bathroom cleaner – there are a lot. For me the highlight is the back garden – the space between indoor living and outdoor garden and then back to an indoor but completely open gymnasium with 1/2 full sized basketball court is a very powerful one. The children who grow up here will remember this for the rest of their lives. The garage, with its entrance from Barnato, seems to defy gravity. But it is separate, unobtrusive and works for me. I think this home is hard to quantify in numbers – the land is north of the 3 and a half million and the house is ……..  Faults – well I’ve got the rose coloured glasses on with this one and I couldn’t find one.”

We will be interested to see this result from a price and a method of sale point of view.

Clearance Rates

45 monitored – 26 bought – 58% clearance rate (last week 65/ week before 69)

Buy happy

Prahran 51 Murray: We loved - we tried - we failed to get. Great home - James Home Rating 926/1000. Bought under the hammer for $3,740,000. 4 bidders. John Bongiorno Marshall White