Brighton 14 Edmanson: The miserable weather made for a challenging auction. Surrounded by an umbrella-laden crowd of 25, David Hart of Buxton forged ahead with determination. The auction commenced with a vendor bid of $950,000 and with no bidders on the day, the property was passed in by Mr Hart at this same figure.

Bayside this week had a clearance rate of 7 from the 11 monitored properties this week – or 63%. This was up on the 40% to 50% of the last few weeks in May, but it was on a smaller turnover.

Bidderman, our demand indicator, was 1.3 bidders per auction – which is still lowish if we are in an improving market.

Having said,  turnover is now getting back to levels each week where we can gauge meaningful levels.

For instance: the 4th week in May 2010 produced 23 reported private, post auction and auction sales in Bayside. This the 4^th week in July we are looking at 14 reported sales – or about 60% of the corresponding week in May. However, overall we are well done on month to date comparable sales; this is seasonally normal and expected.

Agent Comments:

Stephen Tickell of Hocking Stuart: Prices only drop when vendors say so – i.e. when they accept the reduced prices – and that was happening in May. The market made the adjustment and now we are back to, well Mal where we always are every week, supply and demand. Supply is the main guider of the market of the market at present and there is not a lot for buyers in the $1million range in Sandringham and Hampton.

Julian Augustini of Hodges: There are two markets at the moment in Bayside. Median Bayside around $1 million going well. Double Median such as $3.5 million in Brighton and say $2.5 million in Hampton is struggling a little due to minimal demand for what is on offer and there is a reasonable depth of offering. Price is the key here.

Sturt Hinton of Kay and Burton: Good clearing of stock level. It’s been a good two months with quiet sales both private and off market ranging between $2 million and $6.5 million. We are seeing quieter stock numbers coming on now.

Of the 14 reported $M+ sales for the week the highlight was:

23 Murphy St Brighton – James Home Rating 767 out of 1000
James Home Rating: Great street and this property is appealing from the outside. Excellent land content here and a west facing rear is great for afternoon light. Some may have question marks about the floor plan – while the main bedroom suite is very good the separation to other bedrooms is not ideal and the kitchen and stair placement could be better. The cellar is one of the best I have seen and another big plus is a self contained unit at the rear. A good all round family home.

James Auction Report: In cold, drizzly conditions Nick Johnstone of JP Dixon worked hard to bring the bidders out from under their umbrellas. The result was rapid-fire bidding, culminating in a sale price of $3,350,000 in less than 15 minutes. 2 bidders.

James Post Auction Analysis: Strong but not completely unexpected result.

All other reported sales were in the $1m to $2m range.

Land sales

17 Hornby Beaumaris (towards the Black Rock area) with Peter Hickey of Buxton was at $1450 per sq metre for a larger block of land over 900 sq metres.

27 Plantation Ave Brighton East – certainly in Brighton East’s top five streets, again with Nick Johnstone of JP Dixon. 640 sq metres of land achieved $1,326,000 (see our auction report) or just over $2000 per sq metre.

And finishing off with a couple of smart little single level townhouses for the downsizers:

16 Lynch St Brighton (Sabrina Merrick of Hodges) $1,370,000 at auction (see report) for 452 sqm of land or just over $3000 per square metre

The little gem of the week was 16 Collins St Brighton (Chris Carrington of Buxton) – a single level townhouse in need of a reno in central Brighton. It surprisingly sold beforehand for $1,450,000. That was a rare opportunity and well done to whoever bought it.

This coming week we are monitoring 19 auctions.

We only buy homes

23 Murphy St Brighton: Solid result though Nick Johnstone of $3,350,000. See report above. 2 bidders