Heavenly start to the post winter auctions. Hawthorn East, 9 Munro, Robert Ding, bought under the hammer, over $1,475,000, 2 bidders

At 6pm Saturday, the James $M+ Clearance Rate was 46% across the 24 auctions we attended.

The Weekly Review Bidderman - 1.8 bidders per auction.

Market Summary

Welcome back to Marketnews after a month’s hiatus. When we left you last month, the fridge door had opened on the market and the mood was a little sombre. July hasn’t really given us any more pointers as to where things are going, given that – as you would expect – there has been such a small number of transactions.

In our opinion, right now the overall million dollar plus market is about as exciting in terms of stock quality as an Opp Shoppe – lots of junk and the occasional gem.

For example, at 97 Page St, Albert Park, 80 people showed up to the auction by Greg Hocking. It was bought under the hammer for $990,000 with 3 bidders. Meanwhile, just down the road in Elwood there were two auctions – at 15 Kingsley St and 38 Byrne Ave. Our reporters turned up at both these auctions, but no-one else did except for the auctioneer. Consequently, there were no bids and no action.

We consider 80 – 100 $M+ auctions a good solid weekend in Bayside and Inner East. This week we could only find around 30. As you can see by our reports only a handful tipped the excitement scale above luke warm and a few didn’t even make the $1 million mark.

Next week the numbers are not much better, with just under 40 auctions. However the following week, August 11, we are getting back to normal, in this lower stock year, with around 70 auctions scheduled in the $m+ price segment.

So today we are simply reporting and keeping our overall market opinions to ourselves – other than to say she is pretty quiet and unexciting by any measure, but that this is not completely unexpected.

Big Crowd for Ivanhoe, 3 Maud, David Oster, bought under hammer, $1,435,000, 6 bidders

Biggest Auctions

• Fitzroy North, 41 Alfred Cres, Arch Staver (Nelson Alexander), under hammer, $3,530,000, 3 bidders
  The crowd was huge and the buzz unmistakeable….(See More in Auction Reports)

• Hampton, 25 Mills St, James Paynter (Hodges), under hammer, $1,600,000, 4 bidders
  A good sized crowd of 55 turned out in the drizzle this morning to see what would happen at the auction of this family home…(See More in Auction Reports)

• Hawthorn East, 9 Munro, Robert Ding (Marshall White), under hammer, undisclosed above $1,470,000, 2 bidders
  A big crowd of 120 people gathered around the street to witness 2 bidders positioned within the front yard fight it out for this property…(See More in Auction Reports)

Bidderbuzz

• Ivanhoe, 3 Maud St, David Oster (Jellis Craig), under hammer, $1,435,000, 6 bidders
  Gold medals all round here! Great crowd, the sun popping out on a grey day, and auctioneer David Oster was energised in front of passionate bidders..(See More in Auction Reports)

• Brighton, 6 Roseberry Ave, John Clarkson (Hocking Stuart), after auction, $980,000, 5 bidders
  An interested crowd of 40 people watched as auctioneer John Clarkson managed 5 bidders for this single fronted home…(See More in Auction Reports)

• St Kilda, 18 Burnett St, Adam Guest (Wilson), under hammer, $1,530,000, 4 bidders
  Auctioneer Adam Guest had a real spring in his step after having just returned from a European holiday and, with a big crowd in attendance, things were looking good…(See More in Auction Reports)

Biggest Pass-Ins

• Kew, 9 Belmont Ave, passed in, $1,700,000, no bidders
  There was chill in the air and auctioneer Hamish Tostevin was rugged up for this auction, as were the crowd of around 40…(See More in Auction Reports)

• Camberwell, 14 Thomas St, passed in, $1,750,000, 2 bidders
  A decent crowd comfortably gathered inside the kitchen, living, and back patio areas to hear auctioneer Toby Parker’s preamble…(See More in Auction Reports)

• Balwyn North, 42 Stephens St, passed in, $1,600,000, no bidders
  A house with architectural flair were the words used by auctioneer Jeremy Desmier to describe the property…(See More in Auction Reports)

Fitzroy North, 41 Alfred Crescent, Arch Staver (who else would you expect), bought under hammer, $3,530,000, 3 bidders

$3m+ Market

Things have also been quiet at the $3M+ price level in all areas during the month of July. This is fairly understandable given that:

1. Many agents who sell at this price level are in Europe or elsewhere during July
2. Given the winter school holidays, this time is historically as quiet as January in terms of $3m+ family home action – meaning almost nil.

With the Olympics as a market-perceived interrupter, it doesn’t look like things are going to hot up in a hurry much before the start of the footy finals, when traditionally Spring brings those first buds of $3M+ homes out onto the market.

Having said that, there was some limited action in July and here are three interesting homes that show the price vagaries of the market with regards to the current 2007 to 2012 cycle.

• Brighton, 16 Albert St, with Andrew Urquhart of JP Dixon - sold  for around the mid $3 millions. This was a new home, a couple of hundred of metres from the beach on almost a 1000 sqm of land. The 2012 price represents a decrease on the early 2008 sale (start of GFC) of around 6%.

• Balwyn North, 1 Cascade St, with Andrew Keleher of Jellis Craig – bought for around $3m. This had an older style front with ultra modern extension on 800 plus square metres. It’s been on the market for a few months with this agent. It was a strongish price for the area, despite the fact other agents had been asking in the mid $3 millions for it recently. The 2012 price represents a 10% increase on the late 2007 sale price, which shows there is still some life left under the right circumstances.

• Canterbury, 34 Maling Rd, with Tom Ryan of Jellis Craig. On a big block of land and tennis court (3000+ sqm), this period home had potential but was in need of renovation (James Home Rating 626/1000). It sold for, we believe, around $4 million. If this was the case then it was almost exactly the same price as 2 years ago when it last went to market.

August will also see the return of the James $3m+ Market blog – access can be gained from front page of Market News.