22 South Road Brighton - Mark Earle - Bought After - $3,255,000 - 3 bidders

Saturday April 21st: 22 South Road Brighton (Peter Hickey) Bought After $3,255,000
James Auction Report: Thought I would come to see the only $3m auction on offer today – that is if it is actually gets $3m+.  Auctioneer Mark Earle strides out in front of a crowd of around 60 and launches into a synopsis of the rules, some pearls on the market and his thoughts about how good this home is. Well down to business, let’s see if any bidders share his views on this 1700sqm rambling home with tennis court on South Road. A fair and reasonable start is called for, but none is forthcoming and so a vendor bid is made at $3,000,000. To be honest the crowd doesn’t seem to be excited about things – but in balance it’s unlikely to have anymore than one or two bidders – but it will sell eventually as tennis courts always do. After some patter and some fill a grumpy $3,000,000 is called out and is excepted and replaces the vendor bid. A second bidder tries to get out $3,020,000 but is beaten by a third bidder to $3,050,000 and two bids later we are at $3,100,000. A hesitation and another $25,000 comes from Bidder one to $3,125,000. Bidder Three is looking at Bidder Two who goes to $3,150,000 and after Bidder One says he is out Bidder Three comes in at $3,175,000. Strangely the on the market question is not asked. Mark is working the bidders well and extracts a smaller bid after his suggestion of $10,000 and then a $5,000 and it’s passed in at $3,190,000. Good auctioneering and it’s passed in – it will sell. It did.

35 Sussex St Brighton (Jason Gill) – a home in need of some serious work on good land (880 sqm) has been sold – short or initial expectations but nonetheless a solid number below $2,800,000.

13 Washington Toorak (Hugh Hardy) – a quiet off market of land only – 700 sqm selling for above $5,500 per sq metre.

March finished pretty strongly and, despite a big slowdown in terms of April auctions and new stock, the deals have kept coming. The mainstream media have been claiming a slowdown based on a few paltry sales last weekend, but they’ve been eating a bit too much chocky if they think that represents a true sample of what is happening out there right now at the Top End.  While price is still very iffy, interest isn’t.

May is the pointer for 2012 and we are looking at a number of off market homes and pre-market homes (for listing in May). Which means there will be enough on offer to see where that 2012 pointer goes. Our feelings are that prices are still stabilising and that activity is OK.

Last year we had three activity spikes – one around Easter, one in September and a small one for two weeks in December. Those spikes featured homes in and around $3m to $7m.

March 2012 was definitely a spike in terms of activity and April has continued in that vein; not so much in terms of numbers (due to the holidays) but in terms of substantial deals.

Worth noting are four recent sales at around the $10 million mark (3 over and 1 just under). What that says is that people are acting. We last saw this level of activity in August last year where $55 million worth of property sold across 11 sales. In some ways the 2012 Easter weekend was just as impressive with 3 and possibly a 4th ultra-quiet sale in South Yarra transacting for over $10 million and another one very close to it.

A quick rundown on some of the biggies:

• Level 39, Royal Domain Tower, 368 St Kilda Road, Melbourne
  Whole floor in excess of 50 squares. Sold by Andrew Baines of Kay and Burton – Over $8,000,000.
• 26 Albany Road Toorak
  Set on grounds totaling approximately 2,476sqm, a championship-size tennis court and indoor/outdoor pool. Sold by Michael Gibson of Kay and Burton. Over $10,000,000. On the market for over a year and offers back and forth saw this home sell in excess for we believe $11,000,000.
• 1 Millswyn St South Yarra
  On 2,152sqm approx in South Yarra – yes it’s part commercial but it’s a big piece of residential dirt. Sold by Michael Gibson and Matt Davis of Kay and Burton for over $10,000,000 we believe.
• 21- 23 Kooyoongkoot Road Hawthorn – Sold by Marcus Chiminello of Marshall White. Over $12,000,000
  Tennis court court and pool on 2,788 sqm – just down from another big parcel of land at 33 which sold for around $8,000,000 last month.
• 49 Irving Road Toorak – it’s been on the market longer than Richmond has been trying to win their latest premiership but it has finally been put away by Jeremy Fox for $5,000,000 on the knocker.
• 7 Maple Grove Toorak - slightly dated home with a tricky floor plan. Sold by Michael Armstrong for over $4,500,000
• 38 Havelock Road Hawthorn East – 1300+ sqm in size, had been on the market for some time with initial quotes in excess of $4 million. Sold by Glen Coutinho of Hocking Stuart for just above the mid $3 millions.
• And the Balwyn Formula is back in vogue (sort of), that is, small land, big new home and big price – with 3 such homes recently sold in the suburb: 57 Citview (Brett Philipp);  31 Elliott (John Bradbury) and 111 Winmalee (Jin Shang). All sold for between $2,800,000 and $3,200,000 with land sizes between 650 and 750 sq metres. Prices are down but activity is improving.
• 79 Beaconsfield Parade Albert Park – the sale was managed by Paul Western of Cayzer Real Estate.   On land of 409m2. Passed in at auction on the 3/03/12 and sold on 4/04/12 in the range of $3.2m to $3.5m

Down Bayside way things have been a bit quieter, but that is after a dozen or so $3m+ sales last month. One recent sale was 32 Dawson Avenue (newish home in the Golden Mile), sold by Chris Bevan for an undisclosed amount.

This month, like last month and next month, is shaping up as good solid activity months for buyers and sellers, a number of high end quality agents and the $3m+ market overall.

So if you want to buy there seems little reason to be totally negative, sensible on price and quality yes, but not totally negative. While the market may be down in terms of price from last year and activity is still nowhere near the stellar heights of 2010, there is definitely a heartbeat at this Top End level right now, and that is good news for sellers and buyers alike.

As a company we have been involved in seven deals over a million in April – with three purchased to date and four still pending. The three we purchased were: an Off Market around Gasworks Park in Albert Park (Kaine Lanyon); a pre auction sale in Richmond (Luke Schickerling) and a holiday home (private auction) at Fairhaven with Marty Maher from Great Ocean Properties. We should add that the three agents in these cases were professional to deal with and got solid prices for their vendors – two of the three had multiple bidding.

Finally it does look like the Kay and Burton Mexican Wave is back – although we are not sure that is good news for us buyers and hopefully it won’t last too long.

And to finish with some balance – there are still a number of homes out there that haven’t sold: Kooyongkoot Road, Central Park Road, Kooyong Road to name a few – they are really good homes but ……..

May is looking reasonable for new stock.

Life’s OK.

Prahran, 4 Grandview, Jeremy Fox, Under the hammer, $4,570,000. 3 bidders

Saturday March 31st: Solid finish to the month – partly as a result of vendors lowering their expectations as they feel the market may get worse before it gets better, partly due to some good stock and partly because buyers can’t really see anything of note on the market after Easter.

But to keep some perspective if you read our archived $3m+ reports of previous years you will see the same buoyant activity leading into Easter -  its after Easter that gets interesting.

Big Day at Auctions for the Top End

• Prahran, 4 Grandview, Jeremy Fox,  under the hammer $4,570,000, 3 bidders. This was a Super Saturday sizzler! Three determined bidders contested for this breathtaking property after auctioneer Jeremy Fox kicked things off with an opening vendor bid of $4,000,000. It was a little slow at first but the action heated up as the third bidder chimed in. He eventually secured the property for $4,570,000 and that sparked applause from the 130 onlookers.
  James Home Rating 865/1000 “I found it hard to find fault with this home – its WOW all over – the flow works brilliantly, locale for Prahran is in THE street and garaging, kitchen, laundry set up is efficient and classy – the north light is brought in nicely into living areas. The bedroom set up works and the reflection pools aren’t twee they are classy. Do I sound over the top on this? This home will fly and I mean fly unless the RT boys cook the quote or the vendor is dreaming. Best guide is 51 Murray St Prahran in May 2010 (See our rating and auction report, over $3,700,000) and the recent sale of similar land size without the same WOW by same company a couple of weeks ago at 22 Murray St (north of $3,400,000). Our suggested strategy to buy – dig deep on the day or go hard and early now!  ” Mal James

• Armadale, 3/50 Hampden, John Bongiorno, under the hammer, $3,360,000. 2 bidders.  Last sold for just over $2,500,000 in 2005.
• Toorak, 27 Selborne, Jeremy Fox, after auction,  $3,300,000, 1 bidder

Pass-Ins

• Toorak 49 Irving, Passed In on a vendor bid at $4,500,000
• Camberwell, 12a Royal, Passed In on a vendor bid at $4,100,000

February Top End Pass-Ins still really struggling a month later!

But it’s not all good news at this level if you don’t get the price right. A month ago we reported on ten auctions over $2.5 million. Two sold on the day and eight passed in. Since then only a further two have sold and both were below the pass-in price. Although the stat is on a small sample it says at this level 40% clearance rate after a month.

Friday March 30th: 2a Chelsea St Brighton with Sturt Hinton of Kay and Burton got away after an eternity on the market for an extremely healthy result of $3,600,000 (according to another agent).

Thursday March 29th: Expressions of Interest still working with Michael Armstrong moving 11 Moralla Road Kooyong – over $5million.

There has definitely been a resurgence in Bayside in the last few weeks at the top level and one new company that is giving the big boys a run for their money is Nick Johnstone of Nick Johnstone real estate – as you know we have a fair bit of time for him, as he actually gets off his back side and shows you homes, suggest alternatives, tells you asking prices (which a number of others for some stupid reason think should be a complete mystery) and follows you up. Good real estate at the Top End is not for rocket scientists – we know because we aren’t. Turning up with a sprinkling of facts and treating people with a certain level of decency is ¾ of the job. Anyway let’s look at Nic’s circa $3m sales this month alone in Brighton

• 1 Norwood – North facing land one back from the beach
• 20 Birdwood – James Home Rating of 714/1000
• 13 Halifax – ripper property see our James Home Rating 661/1000
• 19 St Ninians – heart of the Golden Mile see our James Home Rating 588/1000

And while on the subject of smaller boutique companies we have always liked the work of Paul Richards who sold 53 Barnard Kew for we believe over $6,000,000 earlier this month and we were amazed to see another company claiming the deal – anyway Bekdon Richards with Evan Lykourinos is a young company who also speaks reasonably accurately, gets out of bed early and pushes through some big deals quietly over the line.

And one for the big boys – Justin Long of Marshall White moved 8 Harvey St Malvern on Monday for we think over $4million – went through it late last year and thought it may take some time to shift – a credit to his persistence and if achieved anything over $4m in this market it would have been a good result for both parties.

Another one quietly gone in the Gascoigne (Kay and Burton) at circa $3m price level and the big one in Boroondara should emerge soon to give some small confidence at the Top of the Top End. Not trying to be tricky but we do respect privacy when asked.

Mortgagee Auction: 8 St Ninians Brighton, David Hart, Under the Hammer, $4,900,000, 3 bidders

Saturday 24th March: It is neck and neck for the strongest areas in the $3 million segment for March: so far Brighton has sold 7, Hawthorn, Kew and Canterbury also 7 and Toorak 6 for the month so far – daylight the rest.

• Brighton, 8 St Ninians, David Hart, $4,900,000, 3 bidders.
• East Melbourne, 125 Gipps St, the newly married Nathan Waterson should pay for the wedding with a private sale at slightly below $4,000,000. A great terrace home and a good result, but below initial ask and took a fair while for the vendors to come into line. Next door’s ask now seems even more courageous than when I first heard it. But I have had the taste of humble pie once or twice this month so will wait and see.
• Kew, 5 Tregarron Avenue, Sam Wilkinson – Expressions of Interest in the mid $3 millions. Now with Sam who has deservedly a good reputation at this level on these homes. Is he not the spitting image of young Brains on Thunderbirds!
• Hawthorn East a quiet one away for Nicholas Franzmann and hopalong Walter Dodich in the over $3m category. New home build – good result in the end.
• McKinnon, 41 Rose St – yep its not a misprint – McKinnon – Adam Joske and Phillip Kingston under the hammer at $70,000 short of $3,000,000. 3 bidders and a crowd of over 200.

Top  Pass Ins

• Brighton, 11 Alverna Grove,  passed in, $3,000,000, no bidders
  A big crowd turned out to have a look at this impressive 7 year old home overlooking parkland at the end of a dead end street….(See more in Auction Reports)
• Balwyn, 26 Metung, passed in, $3,000,000

The New Way to do Business at the Top End - An Abercrombys Private Auction - 11 Bates St Malvern East selling over $6 million – Jeff Gole and Tim Derham

Thursday 22nd March: The Abercromby Private Auction – possibly the new Expressions of Interest. Private Auctions are where a home is advertised usually for a mid week auction and only those who register interest are allowed to attend.

11 Bates St Malvern East was a great example of how it works. A number of pre arranged private inspections are organised during the course of an advertised auction campaign. A few days before the Private Auction (Thursday), all potential buyers register interest and are required to indicate a starting bid. In this case the written starting bid was $5.9 million (I’m not sure what that proves, but anyway).

They are by invitation only (and I saw some people being  turned away at the door). At 11 Bates three parties turned up. Two bid – well I think it was two – the spiel was given by Tim Derham and he declared that there were two pre recorded bids. One bidder asked to see them and she was duly shown the written bids. What surprised me was that she accepted them without asking Tim to point out who the actual written bid was from. But we move on. Anyway this feisty lady tried in all manner of ways to lower the bids (and good on her) until a $50,000 bid was accepted after Tim had cheekily asked for a $200,000 rise (well he tried hey!). The property was eventually passed in to the lady. A deal was done behind closed doors over the magic $6 million mark, post auction. Surprisingly despite the written bid, no-one else bid, including the writer of the bid. Mmmm!

Digressing slightly, this was in our opinion about the right money for this very rare and truly great home, given we figured it was worth $3m for the land and $3m for the home and the rest was going to be emotion. Read our James Home Rating if you wish.

But back to the Private Auction. Not only is it a civil way to conduct proceedings at the Top End but it also probably circumvents the new cooling off period laws – if an auction by invitation only still constitutes a public auction. That’s one for the legal boys.

This is the third of its type we’ve been to over $3m in recent times and all have worked (for the seller). As a buyer the normal rules apply as at a public auction – do your homework on value, have representation to protect your privacy and manage the bidding; and of course have a suitable post auction strategy to prevent the irresistible force of “Slapper” in full voice running you up the flag pole above fair and reasonable.

The more we see the Abercromby guys in action, the more impressed we are with how they do business at the Top End. Yes Tim Derham can hit you between the eyes when you least expect it and Jock can chew your ear off on why a home is worth such and such without necessarily dropping a fact into the conversation (he gets some very big deals over the line); but when you look at their line-up, which includes Rob Vickers Willis and Andrew Harlock, this Top End boutique agency is truly the hired gunslingers (with some morality) who are knocking the Top End around a bit right now. No we don’t get anything from them, but we at James like the way they are doing business right now with the Private Auctions (it’s innovative and its working) – has a relative degree of transparency about it (although you do need pre auction preparation and post auction pass-in skills if you are to give as good as you get – they are working for the vendor not you the buyer) and they are actually pleasant guys (not working for you but pleasant). Jeff Gole is a solid, ethical and experienced addition to the Abercromby family. Liking your work right now boys.

35 Stonnington Off Market - Over $6m

Off Market: 35 Stonnington Place Toorak also Jeff Gole and Tim Derham (they’ve had a good week these old blokes). Went through this off market home about a month ago. Pretty well the Toorak new build formula – big, thoughts of pretension, all the features but lacked a little soul when you lined it up against the calibre of 11 Bates St above. Was around the $6m mark the right money? I feel so and that represents a 25% rise on its last buy price during the GFC. Yes we may be in a market that may fall some more but we also may be in a market that has corrected and will begin to rise again. If you know for sure where we are in the cycle can you let us know please – we agents out here are waiting for that sign from God!

Tuesday 20th March: Another half dozen buys at the $3m+ level this week, with Bayside showing the most consistent activity

• 55 Sussex St Brighton (Jonathan Dixon) finally gets way after beginning its sale campaign with another agent in the stratosphere and selling at what now deemed to be market value.
• 27 Chelsea St (Danielle Martin of Barleys) organises the ink after a long but ultimately successful campaign on a solid block with a home that needed some work.
• 29 Seymour Avenue (Ian Jackson) forever the consummate professional brings two parties together, no not at the initial courageous $5m+ ask; but at the still pretty impressive mid $4 million mark. With land being bought in the early $2m’s a few years ago; holding costs and a pretty solid build ( lift, basement and other features) the buy, build and sell quick is not proving to be the absolute goldmine it once was – but nobody’s saying this was not an acceptable result – just tight.

Monday 19th March: Reprinted from The Weekly Review – “The market can be so fickle at the top end”

So you’ve heard there’s a bit of life at the Top of the Top End – that is the $3 million price bracket. Is it true? Well, yes and no.

After taking forever to get out of the blocks in 2012, the starting gun finally seems to have fired for the $3 million plus market. But the big question in this Olympic year is whether this is a false start or the beginning of some sustained running.

The thing is, that at this price level markets are very fickle and rise and fall quite dramatically within short periods of time. Its sub markets, such as land only or trophy homes or new builds, go up and down with even more elasticity, as demand for these is far more variable than for say a median priced inner suburban home.

Even so, the Top End can have some oomph even while operating a lower price level. It’s a bit like a footy team that is outside the top eight and then gets it act together to make a run at the eight, even if it may not be operating at the levels of the top four.

So where are we now in Mid March 2012 in the Bayside and Inner East Market above $3million?

The current market does have some oomph but it is nothing like the halcyon high turnover days of 2007 and 2010. While there is some good stock on offer, there is also plenty of rubbish. Also worth remembering is that we saw signs of life like this at around the same time in 2011, only to then see momentum die away after Easter. The market did come up for some air in September but then it sank again for the rest of 2011 (except for one or two notable exceptions).

Last year was a classic stalemate market – with many vendors barking orders down to their agents and many buyers looking up at the prize, offering a limp handshake and then walking away unsatisfied when it wasn’t taken up.

So far this year things seem a bit more lively. When pushed some buyers are putting in a second effort, helping to push some prices up. Sellers seem more prepared to meet the market rather than sticking stubbornly to their asking prices as they did last year. However, this does not add up to uniformly increasing prices. In fact a number of homes have transacted at lower prices than the previous peaks or when they last sold.

Let’s get specific

What has been selling?

• Hawthorn East, 2 Buley St, Jason Scillio (Kay & Burton), Sold after auction above $3,700,000, 2 bidders:
• Sandringham, 47-49 Victoria St (Julian Augustini) – Big parcel of land, on the market since late last year and sold in the mid $3 millions – a solid result.
• Camberwell, 19 Waterloo, (Rob Vickers-Willis, Greg Toogood) Bought under the hammer in front of a crowd of 80 people. Bidding opened at $2,700,000. On market at $3 million. 4 Bidders

What has been selling, but at lower than previous levels?

• Hawthorn, 33 Kooyongkoot Road (Tim Picken and Scott Patterson) – A huge block (2800sqm) in THE street on the crest of Scotch Hill. Sold for around the quote price of $8 million, lower than it sold for in the 2007 peak. This was a good sale just at lower levels.
• Malvern, 9 Woodmason St, (Jeremy Fox), Sold after auction, above $3,530,000, with 3 bidders. This was only bought a few years ago and we believe at a higher price. This was a good sale just at lower levels.
• Brighton, 47 Champion St (Ian Jackson) – Had been on the market (with another agent) for an eternity, considering its quality, with an asking price initially over $3.5m – Bought mid week for we believe just under $3m. This was a good sale just at lower levels.

What has not sold at auction?

• East Melbourne, 125 Gipps St – passed-in $3,850,000
• Williamstown, 27 The Strand – passed-in $3,000,000
• Toorak, 24 Heyington – passed-in $2,900,000

And there are plenty more of these out there, as you’ll notice if you do a search on homes over $2.5 million on any real estate portal. Last time we did that, up came 250 homes, which should tell you that despite a dozen or so buys/sells in the last week there are still many “wannabe” sellers out there who may not have got their pricing correct.

19 Waterloo Camberwell hits $3,045,000 in a Rob Vickers-Willis mid week auction

Thursday March 8th – Camberwell, 19 Waterloo, (Rob Vickers-Willis, Greg Toogood) Bought under the hammer in front of a crowd of 80 people. Bidding opened at $2,700,000. On market at $3,000,000. 4 Bidders (Architect Adam Auction Report)

James Home Rating 810/1000: 19 Waterloo is a very good property, and one that which should defy any  negative market conditions  as  it is a unique offering . We see this type of property only about six times a year and,  if vendor expectations are reasonable and the agent manages the campaign well, then a strong result generally comes about….. (see James Home Rating for full details)

Wednesday March 7th – Hawthorn, 33 Kooyongkoot Road (Tim Picken and Scott Patterson) – the big one on Scotch Hill – 2800sqm in THE street on the crest of the hill was bought today for we believe around the quote price of $8,000,000. This shows their is a market for sensibly priced Top End homes – meaning it had a lower quote than what it was last bought for in the 2007 peak. James Home Rating 752/1000 – see rating for full details.

64 Sutherland Road Armadale – (Jock Langley) – Inner city larger terrace home was bought in a private negotiation and 16 Monomeath Avenue Canterbury (Doug McLauchlan) which passed in on Saturday for $4,700,000 was cleaned up in post auction negotiations for an undisclosed amount – the quote was $5,000,000 plus.

Biggest Sale of 2012 so far 33 Kooyongkoot

Tuesday March 6th – Kay and Burton Trifecta

• Toorak, 46 Canberra Road, Michael Armstrong and Ross Savas – bought before auction around $4 million.
• Camberwell, 69 Broadway, Michael Armstrong and Ross Savas – was quoted between $6,000,000 and $7,000,000 and had been on the market since last year with another agent and we believe was sold in the last day or two for an undisclosed amount.
• Portsea, 3831 Point Nepean Road – Liz Jensen, Kay and Burton, $3,200,000 – bought before auction.

Hawthorn East, 2 Buley, Jason Scillio, Bought After, Over $3,700,000. 2 bidders

March 3rd: We had the first signs of life in the Inner East this weekend and it now seems the Bayside Top End may be dragging itself out of its Summer slumber. After last week’s Sandringham Top End action, we saw sales this week at:

• Brighton, 192 Church St (Ian Jackson) – On market for some time at over $4m – Bought mid week just shy of that
• Brighton, 47 Champion St (Ian Jackson) – On market (with another agent) for an eternity, considering its quality, with an asking initially over $3.5m – Bought mid week for just under $3m.

Biggest Auctions:

• Hawthorn East, 2 Buley St, Jason Scillio (Kay & Burton), after auction above $3,700,000, 2 bidders: Jason Scillio was our master of ceremonies here and he led the way strongly and professionally, politely refusing low increment bids and keeping the auction moving along smoothly and quickly…(see more in Auction Reports)
• Malvern, 9 Woodmason St, Jeremy Fox (RT Edgar), after auction, above $3,530,000, 3 bidders: Interested to see how this recently on the market and sold quality home goes at this indoor auction in front of crowd of around 40…(see more in Auction Reports)
• Toorak, 33 Evans Court, Gowan Stubbings, After Auction, around $3,400,000, 1 bidder: This beautifully presented property attracted a sizeable crowd on a gloomy day. An opening bid from the crowd of $3,260,000 was trumped by auctioneer Gowan Stubbings ..(see more in Auction Reports)
• Brighton, 3 Tennyson St, Leigh Hallamore (Buxton), under the hammer, $3,270,000, 3 bidders: Indoor auctions aren’t always that exciting, but this bucked the trend and was fast paced, entertaining and high energy all rolled in to one…(see more in Auction Reports)
• Brighton, 19 St Ninians Rd, Nick Johnstone (Nick Johnstone), after auction, $3,150,000, 1 bidder: The loud chatter of the crowd, with umbrellas in hand, who stood in a series of small huddles, made the weather seem much less dreary….(see more in Auction Reports)
• Fitzroy, 112 McKean St with Shayne Mooney of Nelson Alexander – just over $3million

Biggest Pass-Ins:

• Canterbury, 16 Monomeath Ave, Doug McLauchlan (Marshall White), $4,700,000, no bidders: Outside, and under a substantial porch, a crowd of 80 gathered. Doug McLauchlan opened with a vendor bid of $4,500,000, adding another at $4,600,000…(see more in Auction Reports)
• Albert Park, 79 Beaconsfield Parade, Geoff Cayzer, $3,300,000
• Elwood, 8 Dickens St, Marshall Rushford (Hocking Stuart), $2,950,000,  2 bidders: This great old dame attracted a lot of curious bystanders – even (I was told) a former owner of this amazing old mansion, who had come along to see just how much it was worth in today’s market…..(see more in Auction Reports

However, there is still a lot of property at this price level on the market in Bayside and the Inner East that is simply sitting there doing nothing.

Overall the $3M+ market is seen by optimists as treading water and by realists as still edging backwards.

We’re in a tricky market pre Easter 2012. One minute there’s spark of life, the next the puff has gone. As a buyer you may be feeling a little confused. How can I buy well in this market?

First, let’s think about what buying well means. If you think it means a guaranteed market outcome, forget it. We are not in a market of certainty. (In fact there’s never any absolute certainty about the property market.)

A better way of thinking about buying well is in terms of good financial and emotional outcomes for you.

In terms of financial outcomes, the best you can aim to do is to buy a home that has a real chance of outperforming the market.  An outperforming home will not drop by as much as the average if prices go down and will go up more than the average on the next upswing.

A good example is the $2 million homes in Hawthorn that have really powered through the negativity of recent times and continue to hold and even increase in value.

Emotionally speaking, buying a home well is about meeting your family’s changing needs as you go through the cycles of life. There is no such thing as the perfect one-size-fits-all, long-term perfect home – (although in our opinion a well-positioned single-fronted, double-storey Edwardian or Victorian comes very close). But you should aim to buy a home that has five year flexibility to meet your changing foreseen and unforeseen needs.

The good news is that the same home can deliver both good emotional and financial outcomes.

A  good buy is a home that you personally like (emotion outcome),  as well as one that has strong long term demand with a limited supply (financial outcome).

What does a home that will have both long term demand and a restriction of supply look like?

We like to use the Three Ps Characteristics – Price, Property and Position to be describe what we think such a home is.

The most important P for financial outcomes is Position. Position is about a property’s location in relation to the CBD, shops, rail and good schools. If you can walk to these amenities the demand will be higher  than if you have to drive. By logic the supply of these kinds of properties is restricted (they are making very few train stations or commercial centres). But position is not only area “big picture” – the minutiae and subtleties of one precinct over another is also an important consideration in emotional and financial outcomes of each family.

You might think there is great demand for new homes in outer areas and for high end apartments in the inner city. But in both cases there is no restriction of supply. They can always build more outer suburbs or Dockland apartments. That is why these homes have underperformed the market in the medium term.

The second P, Property, is both about land content and the floor plan. When buying well most of your money should be going into the dirt the property is built on rather than the bricks and mortar. Dirt goes up in value over time whereas buildings tend to lose value. Building in a fringe suburb is hard to stack up financially. If you’re buying land in the mid $1 millions to build on in Beaumaris, for instance, and expecting to sell it for mid $2 million to $3 million you are going to do your dough 9 times out of ten. The same applies to North Balwyn or Bentleigh East. Building new or major renovating can be emotionally satisfying but it can also seriously affect you land content to market value ratio – which is one of the more important ratios in long term financial outcomes. We like to see a ratio of at least 70% meaning the land is worth 70% of the market price (when completed).

The third P, Price, is important, because even in a great location it is possible to pay too much and so reduce your financial outcome. Be careful of false market prices created by marketing, skilled agents or unusual circumstances. Eg new developments, even within established suburbs, can often be false markets especially if what is on offer is well above the price of surrounding precinct types – at the very least it represents an elevated risk financially.  A “real” market price has a historical basis and is currently determined by a number of other informed bidders.

So following these Three Ps of demand and supply characteristics, buying well is about buying into a good suburb with good land content and a good floorplan that does not require  major work at a good price.

Want to know  where you’ll find a property to this formula? Well, in Melbourne you can’t go past property near good schools in Bayside and the Inner East, which is why the long term trends for those suburbs consistently exceeds  the Melbourne average (even if they go up and down in the short term).

As close as there is to such a thing, a good property in these areas will be the magic bullet that will allow you to buy well in this or any market.

As we come to the end of February most of the work we are involved in at this price level is off market or pre market – meaning not advertised or not yet advertised (and may not be). However two really good properties, currently beginning public selling campaigns (we have been through and rated), should provide a very good indication of where the market is at to the general public are:

• Hawthorn – 29 Kooyongkoot Road – asking $6m plus with Michael Armstrong of Kay and Burton. James Home Rating 842/1000
• Malvern East – 11 Bates Street – asking $6m plus with Jeff Gole and Tim Derham of Abercromby’s. James Home Rating 838/1000

If you have any interest in these properties we have far more detailed notes and pricing which is not up on our public Ratings site.

Click on picture go to rating

Click on picture go to rating

February 25th the day everything big passed-in

2 bidders to $3,900,000 at 2 Laurel Court Hawthorn East - but that still wasn’t enough!

Despite the rest of the market having some bounce it was very flat at the Top End with the Top 8 Sales all passing-in

• Hawthorn East – 2 Laurel Court – passed-in $3,900,000
• East Melbourne – 125 Gipps St – passed-in $3,850,000
• Williamstown – 27 The Strand – passed-in $3,000,000
• Toorak – 24 Heyington – passed-in $2,900,000
• Hawthorn – 54 Glen – passed-in $2,800,000
• Canterbury – 29 Hopetoun – passed-in $2,650,000
• Camberwell – 123 Wattle Valley – passed-in $2,650,000
• Malvern – 119 Stanhope – passed-in $2,600,000

A few biggies that were cleaned up this week (but at lower prices than initially offered):

• 3 Park St Brighton (Jason Gill) – Wrapped up this week at just under $3m after being on the market for a fair while.
• 47-49 Victoria St Sandringham (Julian Augustini) – Big parcel of land, on the market since late last year and sold in the mid $3ms.
• 324 Beaconsfield Parade St Kilda West (Shane Siemers) – Went to auction last year at over $5m and sold, we believe, in the sub $4m range this week.
• 51 Isabella Grove Hawthorn (Jeremy Fox) – been on the market a long time and sold at a second campaign for over $5,500,000. Initial ask was over $6m.

All smiles are David Wood and Michael Coen who get 2012's first $3m+ under the hammer property away. Albert Park, 148 Beaconsfield Parade and a strong 4 bidders

2011 was a year of falling prices with the exceptions of the months of May, September and December. Yes, we finished the year off OK – but it was more a case or arresting the fall rather than any lighting of price rockets.

Last year we saw large drops in market values of homes that started too high on price, with owners who then had to sell. This was particularly the case with properties that were of inferior quality and also those in poor positions. In many cases these drops were 20% and more off the Anzac Day 2010 high. A lot of that fall in value happened in the last quarter of 2011.

Demand being OK can be further supported by our Stale and Stalemate results.

As we went into Christmas we had four key $2m to $3m negotiations in Stalemate in that the Vendor was fixed at X and our buyer was fixed at Y. It was a stalemate as opposed to a momentum negotiation because the vendor felt no compulsion to lower their price and our buyer had no proof as to why they had to increase their bid.

10 weeks later, the results on those negotiations are:

1. Burke Road Malvern – Marshall White’s Maddie Kennedy got a surprising near $3m from another buyer. This was a really good home but in a difficult location and the auction only produced a vendor bid of $2.4m
2. Victoria St Brighton – Barb Gregory of Marshall White Brighton. Another buyer met the reserve of $3.5m. Not surprising – this was a good home and a fair price.
3. Moffat Brighton – Bought after some argy-bargy with Chris Bevan of JP Dixon. This was a brilliant design and build and had been on the market for over a year.
4. Camberwell -still in a stalemate negotiation and with other blocks nearby also unsold. It’s hard to tell when or even if something may happen on this.

Early 2012 Private Sales

• Brighton East, 181 Were St – Kate Strickland – Over $3m – Cutting edge home – Big price for East Brighton
• Brighton, 10 Victoria – Barb Gregory – Over $3.5m – Modern 7 yo family home near the water
• Brighton, 17 Huntingfield – Regina Schmidt and Brian Devlin – Over $3.3m – Big family home
• Brighton 2 Collins Brighton– Regina Schmidt and Brian Devlin – Over $3m – Townhouse, one of a pair
• Brighton 26 Moffat Brighton – Chris Bevan – Cutting edge family home
• Balwyn, 15 Boston – Mark Rathgeber – $3,300,000 – Big family home
• Hawthorn, 58 Kooyongkoot – Scott Patterson – Over $3m – Family home
• Prahran, 22 Murray – Tim Wilson – Over $3m – Big land
• Kew, 65 Stevenson – Paul Richards – Bekdon Richards – $3,000,000 – Big period home

The auctions are back on again and the chatter about what is happening on the 2012 property market has started. By Labour Day the trickle of opinion on the state of the market will turn into a flood.

The big question for many of you right now may well be: should we buy the family home in Brighton or Hawthorn now – or should we wait till later in the year? You may be worrying about what’s happening to the economy, and wondering how it’s going to affect the property market.

But the fact is it’s still impossible to say what’s happening on those two fronts. And whether or not you decide to buy now or later in the year, first you need to work through your home-buying plan for 2012. To some people this is an amazingly difficult ask. But I can assure you that if you make a sensible plan and follow it, it’s a Black Caviar certainty you’ll buy a house that suits your needs, makes your family happier,  and lets you retire earlier.

Your plan should include both financial and emotional outcomes. Financial outcomes include whether you aim to minimise debt as soon as possible, and whether you want your home to help you build wealth. Emotional outcomes are about what kind of property will maximise your family’s happiness and well-being.

Your plan will of course be very different depending on what stage of life you are at, whether you’re a Single, Couple, have Young Children, or Older Children, are in Mid Life or Retirement.

So grab your iPad or a piece of paper and pencil and divide a page into three columns. At the top of Column 1 write ‘Position’; at the top of Column 2 write ‘Property’ and at 3 write ‘Price’.

This is where you answers will go –what about  the questions?

Start with the emotional outcomes. If you are a single or child-free couple you might be focusing on car-spaces, benchtops, or a groovy locale. But think in terms of a bigger picture. Imagine your life five years from now. Maybe you’ll meet somebody, leave somebody, get a job, lose a job, go to Nepal, discover the punt. The point is your price column shouldn’t tie you down to a life of endless mortgage payments; your property column should have room for a spouse or child or renter; and your position should go beyond the one funky suburb. Your best emotional outcomes are flexible ones.

If you have Young Children, your focus will be on how the house can accommodate you all happily as the family grows. So think hard when filling in the ‘Property’ column on how the floorplan can combine supervision with some separation. With Older Children your emotional focus is schooling and transport. So when you fill out the Position column, remember that where you live in relation to schools and public transport determines how much time you’ll spend driving the kids around in the car.

In the Mid Life stage, there’s a chance you’ll make a big dramatic life change – move to the country  or overseas. But when you look at Price be careful you don’t rule out the possibility you may want to come back to a home in the city. In the Retirement stage your emotional focus will move back to the Position column – to somewhere you can easily walk to a cafe, catch a train and see your doctor.

In terms of the financial outcomes in your life your answers will revolve around Growth (building wealth to give you choice later in life), Cash flow (allowing you to live for the now) and Risk (allowing you to sleep at night). All boring but necessary.

Once you have a PPP plan, looking at each home becomes much easier and quicker because you know what you want. You can assess each home against your plan rather than looking at each home and then trying to work out a plan to fit.

If your PPP Plan is functioning well then the question asked at the start: ‘Do I buy now or do I wait?’ can be answered relatively easily. It’s not so much about getting the timing right, but about the property itself: does it meet my PPPs plan and does it feel right? Yes? Well then, buy it! No? Wait and keep looking.

Printed each week in The Weekly Review – Melbourne’s $Million Plus property magazine

To help us get a sense of what happened this year in Melbourne’s Top End property market, on both sides of the fence, we asked some of the greats of Melbourne real estate – our Legends – to give us their perspectives. We also asked them to take a longer historical view on how this year compared with the recent past and on how it might impact on the market when it opens again next year.

Peter Batrouney – Jellis Craig – 0419 005 236

What happened this year in your area of expertise?
Demand was not quite as strong as 2010. However for a prime property such as 47 Kinkora Rd Hawthorn it is a very strong market still.
Supply is holding and our own stats support that.
Prices are down by 10-15%

Where are we on the price cycle compared to 2007 peak, 2008 GFC or say 2010. And what do you think will happen to price early next year?
Next year I expect the market to open up briskly as it has always done in my 43 years of tracking it. February is statistically the most successful month in which to sell.

What happened this year in your area of expertise?
This has been a year of two markets.. The year stated strongly with supply and demand well balanced after a slow end to 2010. Most surplus stock from 2010 was mopped up early in the new year and prices were comparatively strong.

About mid year however, the news of Europe started to dominate, which initially lowered supply. But at the same time we saw sliding prices (meaning demand dropped even more).
One thing that has become apparent is the flight to quality. Main roads and other distractions have almost become unsalable in Port Philip, particularly in the $2 million plus range.

Where are we on the price cycle and what do you think will happen to price early next year?
In one sense, having a breather after the price spikes of 07 and 09 is not such a bad thing, as 20% growth per annum is unsustainable. The question is, is this a breather or a five year flat market?

What happened this year in your area of expertise?
Demand was steady for the first half of the year across all price ranges. In the second half there was a noticeable drop off in demand above $2 million. Up to and around $1 million has remained steady. Supply contracted sharply mid year and rebounded strongly over October and November, noticeably easing prices. Overall the market faded toward the finish line with many properties failing to attract buyers at any price. Subsequently a significant number have been withdrawn from sale altogether. In closing, it is fair to say that prices across the board have dropped by 10 to 15% this year.

Where are we on the price cycle and what do you think will happen to price early next year?
The current price cycle mirrors the worst of 2008 and much like the early 90s buyers are remaining cautious and largely unresponsive to the downward movement in pricing that has occurred throughout 2011. The ongoing negative media coverage of the market has no doubt influenced many would be buyers to ‘sit on the fence’.

What happened this year in your area of expertise?
In 2011 we have seen a reserved correction in terms of pricing as a result of general uncertainty and fear as a result of world economies and media commentary across the many markets in which we operate.

Where are we on the price cycle and what do you think will happen to price early next year?
2012 in my opinion will represent great buying opportunities to those looking to enter the market or upgrade an existing property.

Alastair Craig – Jellis Craig – 0418 335 363

What happened this year in your area of expertise?
Demand has been strong for the good quality period/modern homes in the A Grade streets
Supply is down approximately 10%
Pricing West of Burke Road is very stable. East of Burke Rd prices are down 10-15%
When the market gets a little tougher, buyers tend to stick close to Glenferrie/Cotham Rd (The school belt)
Pricing is approximately 10% down overall from the peak of the market – Easter 2010

Where are we on the price cycle and what do you think will happen to price early next year?
2012- Hawthorn/Kew to remain steady. East of Burke Road has already fallen 15% and may thus remain stable.

Rob Vickers-Willis – Abercromby’s – 0412 210 066

What happened this year in your area of expertise?
With the economic uncertainty from Europe and the continual fluctuations of the share market in the USA we have seen confidence drop in the Australian economy and share market.
This, along with the negative media over a period of time, has caused the market to drop between 5-10 % this year. Many vendors with A-plus rated properties have not placed them on the market, which has compromised the quality of stock. B-grade real estate is bringing average prices so the quality of property is not on offer and therefore prices have fallen. This is a trend that will most likely continue through the first half of 2012.

Where are we on the price cycle and what do you think will happen to price early next year?
We are probably half way through the cycle and, depending on what happens to the European markets and the RBA (if they have the balls to drop rates by another 75 basis points by April 2012), we will then see the cycle slow or jump ahead. I expect property prices to vary 1-5% up or down or stay constant for the next 12 months.

Andrew Stuart – Hocking Stuart – 0418 329 960

What happened this year in your area of expertise?
2011 has been a tough year! And yet along with that it has brought opportunities!
Opportunities to ‘skill up’ your staff, particularly in the area of selling in tough conditions, keeping track of that elusive buyer, and still endeavouring to achieve respectable outcomes for your clients.
Clearance rates in Bayside have remained fairly steady throughout the year at around 50-60%.
In previous years approximately 30% of the properties we sold were to investors. This year probably that figure is closer to 10%! Given that, coupled with more people looking to rent rather than to buy, you can understand why rental properties are very hard to find and why weekly rent is going through the roof! Demand has slipped! Supply of saleable properties has declined with many vendors still clinging to prices of 2 years ago. Therefore fewer properties have been selling for cheaper prices.

Where are we on the price cycle and what do you think will happen to price early next year?
However, the good news is that I reckon we are at 6 o’clock. Things will improve from here. The question is: When?!!

John Bongiorno – Marshall White – 0418 328 056

What happened this year in your area of expertise?
It has been a challenging year, however properties well priced have continued to sell successfully in this market.

Where are we on the price cycle and what do you think will happen to price early next year?
In regard to prices compared to previous years, there are so many different market places within our markets – it is difficult to pinpoint movement, in some instances prices have held firm, in others there have been price adjustments compared to previous years.

I am optimistic about 2012 and I believe the adjustment to prices will see astute buyers take advantage of the market place that exists currently and create more activity than 2011.

Iain Carmichael – Bennison Mackinnon – 0418 850 988

What happened this year in your area of expertise?
It has become evident that buyer demand for most sectors of the residential market across Melbourne’s inner suburbs has receded from the highs of late 2010. Buyers have become more studied in their approach and are less inclined to negotiate on properties that are overpriced. Accordingly, people are taking longer to make buying decisions and family buyers are quite prepared to ‘walk away’ from properties that do not meet their needs. On the plus side, buyers are still prepared to pay fully for well located properties offering the right accommodation.
When prices fall in inner Melbourne, supply follows.  This time around is no exception to that rule and its not surprising that fewer people are choosing to sell right now. This very fact actually maintains buoyancy in the market.
A clear reduction in the level of ‘irrational exuberance’ in the market place has occurred for all sorts of reasons -  uncertainty, uneasiness and apprehension to name three.

Where are we on the price cycle and what do you think will happen to price early next year?
Who knows where we are on the Price Cycle? On the ‘economic clock’ we are probably at about ‘twenty past’. Prices will be flat at best in 2012. All the more reason to select the right agent who really understands how to maximise selling prices on behalf of vendors, rather than just making another a sale! On the other hand, real estate prices could well re-bound if the European economy falters and private investors move funds from equities. The money has to go somewhere!

Bert Stewart – Buxton – 0418 350 199

What happened this year in your area of expertise?
Demand has been reasonably strong overall, especially at the bottom end of the market below the $1,500,000 range.
Supply is certainly down on the previous year because of the vendor’s uncertainty of what’s happening with the global financial situation, people tend to be conservative in times like these.
Prices have come off 10% to 20% in the top end of the market but have held better in the bottom end.

Where are we on the price cycle and what do you think will happen to price early next year?
Compared to the price cycle of the last 3 years I believe prices are below, but having said that for prestige properties with a wow factor in excellent locations and priced well, they are selling well.
Prediction of the market next year would be steady as she goes with the first batch of auctions in February and March a strong barometer of what will happen going forward.

Michael Gibson – Kay and Burton – 0418 530 392

What happened this year in your area of expertise?
2011 has been the year of continual market fluctuations which has made giving accurate advice extremely difficult. Since the start of May supply and demand have been lower however the properties that tick all the boxes have continued to sell well.
Prices have come off in varying degrees; 5% to 15% depending on the quality of the offering, with market conditions perhaps similar to that of 2008.  The auction clearance rates do not reflect the current underlying strength in the market.

Where are we on the price cycle and what do you think will happen to price early next year?
2012 will be determined by local interest rates and confidence levels of the world around us, and to that end let’s hope rates come down and confidence goes up!!

Phillip Kingston – Gary Peer – 0414 353 547

What happened this year in your area of expertise?
Whilst there were many highlights, overall most agents/agencies will be glad to shut the doors on the 2011 real estate market.

Lower prices, a lower volume of transactions, less competition and longer ‘days on market’ will ensure most agents holiday locally this summer rather than venturing overseas (if they will holiday at all).  A reported closing of eight real estate agencies per month in 2011 meant only the strong, well organised companies survived.

The year started with a bang with good clearances and healthy buyer competition in February and March. This provided a misleading perception about the late 2010 market jitters, which was only temporary. The next three months (April, May, June) really set the tone for the year to come as selling prices were rapidly corrected upon buyers refusing to pay precedent prices. Conversely many vendors who had price expectations based on the prior ‘bull’ year weren’t willing to accept the new market conditions. Those who did were the ultimate winners as prices progressively declined through the year albeit at a very slow rate.

By mid-year the ‘new market’ had set in and transactions were occurring creating a new level of pricing that resulted in many vendors withdrawing from the market resulting in low offerings.

Where are we on the price cycle and what do you think will happen to price early next year?
I would like to think 2012 will be a ‘hot’ real estate year, but realistically I don’t think it will be. It will most likely be a balanced market between buyers and sellers prepared to transact at today’s prices. Good, unique, well-positioned properties will still be sought after and often will attract a premium prices as stock levels are not likely to be as high as they were in previous years.

Rodney Morley – TBM Woodards – 0418 321 222

What happened this year in your area of expertise?
As you know the weaker market we are experiencing is caused by a shift in the demand and supply cycle.  Demand has dropped whilst supply over the year has not dramatically fallen, resulting in fewer purchasers, with a greater choice.

In the last two months the gap has increased further in the buyers favour, i.e. demand down and supply up.  As a result of these market forces prices have softened.

The peak of the market was October 2009 – March 2010, I believe across the board in the area that I operate there has been a 10 – 15% reduction in prices from the peak.

Obviously, there are exceptions, especially when properties tick all the boxes. Few have exceeded the previous peak unless due to exceptional circumstances i.e. – adjoining property holders, unique properties etc.

Due to the rolling crisis in Europe, buyer’s confidence has been reduced.  In good times people confidently purchase prior to selling their own properties but with confidence levels lower, conservatism creeps in and buyers are reluctant to stretch the purchase price as they take a more conservative view of their trade in.  This is why we aren’t experiencing huge percentage increases over and above the reserve prices.

Where are we on the price cycle and what do you think will happen to price early next year?
As mentioned above, we are certainly below the 2010 peak.  My experience is that sentiment is more negative now than the 2008 GFC.  I believe prices in the New Year will be similar to what we are currently experiencing now (10-15% lower than the March 2010 peak) and expect them to remain at these levels in the forseeable future.

Of course if  GFC 2 occurs, as several commentators are predicting, combined with a lack of confidence in the current government, prices could further reduce into 2012.

It will be interesting to see the reaction to today’s second interest rate drop in 2 months.  However, past history has demonstrated the biggest gains in housing prices have been accompanied by considerably higher interest rates than we are currently experiencing.

Geoff Cayzer – Cayzers – 9699 5999

What happened this year in your area of expertise?
Demand
The demand in the Inner City Bayside Area has diminished quite considerably over the last 12 months. The market has been supported by the movement of local people within the surrounding districts. There is strong sales evidence that indicates that buyers have endeavored to upgrade in the current market.

Supply
The supply of properties over the last 12 months has been similar to recent years. With the Melbourne auction conversion rate being in the mid 50% has seen a lot of properties being passed in and available for private sale. With the compression of new auctions and the backlog of private sales it has seen a wonderful cross section of quality properties from which the public can choose on the open market.

Price
With the slowing down of the sales conversion rate and the lack of confidence of buyers it has seen a definite discount across the board with regard to price. In some examples there has been a definite 5 – 10% reduction in the sale price when compared with last year. Whilst all vendors have been prepared to reduce their asking prices they will not accept silly offers as they still retain good equity in their property and are prepared to wait until the market improves.

Why?
With the compounding factors of the overseas economic climate uncertainty in the share market and lack of confidence of the buyers it has seen nervousness throughout the market. Potential buyers have still inspected properties and have shown interest but have been unprepared to make a formal commitment. Conversation with higher priced owners has indicated that they are hoping for an improvement in the market in 2012. That has yet to been seen!

Where are we on the price cycle and what do you think will happen to price early next year?
We are of the opinion that with the rises and falls during the period 2007 – 2010 that the market throughout 2011 has been of a similar type. The major difference that we have noticed is that people selling during the GFC had to sell whereas the people under pressure in 2011 have elected to hang on until the market corrects accordingly. We see a slight improvement in 2012 but do not believe that the market will get the previous heights of prices achieved in previous years.

This Melbourne Auction scene was especially commissioned of Kym Hart and presented to Architect Adam for achieving a significant milestone with the company during the year. We love auctions!

Monday 28th November – 57 Cole Brighton ( Peter Kennett of Hocking Stuart). A family home with some floor plan issues that has been on the market for sometime, has been bought after a few interested parties were gathered together in an Expressions of Interest Campaign and one person popped up over $3,000,000. We rated the home 757/1000 mainly on its position and land characteristics.

Big auction, big crowd and big bidder numbers: 98-100 Mont Albert, Canterbury, Alastair Craig (Jellis Craig), under the hammer, $3,380,000, 6 bidders

End of Spring Market Summary

Bidderman: The stats over the last 3 weeks (below) highlight in our opinion exactly what has been happening to a large extent all year. Two weeks ago we reported 27 bidders on 5 homes and 14 bidders combined on the other 21 auctions. Last week it was the same story – 17 bidders on 4 homes auctioned and only 15 bidders combined on the other 21 homes that we reported on. This week we had 26 bidders on 7 homes and 24 bidders combined on the other 27 homes we reported on. If you are hot, you can be really hot and if you’re not then you need a panadol and a good agent.

Clearance Rates: Basically on auction day you have a 50/50 chance of selling – although demand for $3m+ properties has weakened in last fortnight.

Stales: (long term pass-ins) The market is acting on properties where prices have been adjusted, and continuing to pass over homes where the vendor remains committed to a price rather than a result. One month after Super Saturday a full third of the homes that went to auction still had not been sold. It is not true for agents to say they are all being cleaned up. They are not.

Expressions of Interest – are no different to auctions. At the Top End last month we nominated 8 homes to monitor as having Expressions of Interest closing dates either side of the Melbourne Cup. Of those eight, four (50%) have sold around the proposed closing time and the others remain on the market. The four that have sold were goodies and they got exceptional prices. The other four – well, they remain unattached to a buyer.

The Top 3 things buyers can do to take advantage of what is on offer before Christmas.

1)   Find: Off markets, stales, rebadgers and pass-ins. Many homes are being re-presented after failed campaigns early in the year. If they failed on price then, why pay it now? Off markets are back in season as many recent buyers would be keen to see a quiet sale before Christmas rather than wait till 2012 – there may be a bargain there. Stales – don’t give up. If it’s a home you like then revisit with a  written offer – even if the asking price is baloney. Rule One in this market: if you don’t ask, you don’t get. Man up and put the offer in!

2)  Assess Price: Use past sales carefully and change their meaning – sales of six months ago are now the ceiling prices, not the floor prices (as in previous years). The market is going backwards in price, not forwards (A graders excepted).

3)   Negotiate: As buyers if you want to negotiate to your advantage while still maintaining a reasonable level of risk in terms of buying versus missing out on the home, then you need to be able to apply the Fisherman’s Friend Wet Fish Slap on overpriced homes. You know the commercial – where she gives him an uppercut with a wet fish. If the price is baloney and you are not going to pay it, don’t walk away – you may be doing yourself and the seller a disservice, as you may in fact be the best buyer. Go and hit the seller with the Fisherman’s Friend Wet Fish Slap and then apply pain relief afterwards. This is exactly what our selling agent friends have been doing for years in post auction negotiations. They hit you hard with a big number, then they offer to relieve your pain (slightly). So if you have a sensible price, go and offer it – you may well be the seller’s best deal and if you walk away because of your timidity, then both you and the seller lose. If aFisherman’s Friend Wet Fish Slap is not your caper consider hiring a professional who can help you – it’s invigorating. And of course if it doesn’t have the desired effect – consider moving on.

Saturday 26th November Weekend Auction Results

Bought

• 98-100 Mont Albert Road Canterbury (Alastair Craig) – $3,380,000 – 6 bidders
• 25 Grange Road Kew (James Tostevin) – Around $3,000,000 – 1 bidder
• 24 Anderson Malvern East (Heather Elder) – Around $3,000,000 – 2 bidders

Passed-In

• 2 Collins St Brighton – $2,975,000 – 0 bidders
• 1022 Malvern Road Armadale – $2,800,000 – 0 bidders
• 21 Wattle Road Hawthorn – $3,050,000 – 0 bidders
• 68 Molesworth Kew – $4,600,000  – 0 bidders
• 20 McGregor Middle Park – $3,200,000 – 0 bidders

Friday 25th November – 58 Howitt Road, Caulfield North has been bought for a record Caulfield price according to the effervescent Ross Savas of Kay and Burton. The price;  well can say they were talking $6 million and the calibre of the home leads us to conclude they would have got that, so over is definitely not out of the question. This was a truly great home, our James Home Rating of 838/1000 is one of the highest we have scored this year. The market is obviously still recognising and paying for great quality.

Thursday 24th November – 25 Montalto Avenue Toorak ( Nicole Gleeson) – Basically land only for the area as the home requires a serious reno – passed-in last Saturday on a lone vendor bid of $3,450,000 was bought today for an undisclosed amount.

Wednesday 23rd November – 58 Glyndon Rd, Camberwell (Jock Langley) Private Auction  BOUGHT over $3,300,000: Attended this mid week private auction  just in case a bargain was to be had. No bargain, with a very healthy Tim Derham – Abercromby’s auction – 3 bidders and passed in for $3,300,000 and bit – deal was negotiated after wards in excess of that figure. Strong result – this is still outer Camberwell!
PROPERTY: James Home Rating Excerpt: Big home in the “almost ‘burbs” on 2100 sqm with tennis court – it’s all about the land. Set down for a private auction as opposed to a public one – (mmmmm, that’s an interesting twist) on November 23rd. What is the land per sqm at this size worth? How many other competitors do I really have in this market? Am I better to go before and if not successful how will I manage a Jock Langley pass-in?

Monday 21st November – 6-8 Myrtle St Brighton (Barb Gregory). This last weekend’s biggest auction – and another private one at that, was completed at a price over the quote of $6,000,000. So another solid Golden Mile sale with land in excess of 1600 sqm plus some solid improvements and another good result for Marshall White in Brighton. While private auctions are very secretive they seem to meet the vendors requirements for privacy and a buyers liking for transparency – perhaps a way of the future for some key homes.

Subdued mood: Toorak, 25 Montalto Ave, Jason Scillio (Kay & Burton), passed-in $3,450,000, no bidders

Saturday 19th November: At auction only two out of ten were reported as sold at the $3m+ level.

• 19 Florence St, Kew (Diana Healy) – Bought for over $3,600,000
• 2 Monomeath Pl, Canterbury ( Richard Earle) – Bought after for over $3,100,000

Pass-Ins at

• 47 York St, Kilda West – $3,800,000
• 24 Monaro Rd, Kooyong – $3,500,000
• 25 Montalto Ave, Toorak – $3,450,000
• 9 Berry St, East Melbourne – $3,200,000
• 11 Victor Ave, Kew – $3,000,000
• 2 Snooks Crt, Brighton – $3,000,000
• 26 Stawell St, Kew – $2,950,000
• 6-8 Myrtle St Brighton – undisclosed

Overall quite a weak day – although having been through many of those pass-ins I can say that a number were not the most exciting of offerings.

Friday 18th November: The Christmas Stock Flood has really gained some momentum in the last week with a large influx of homes coming onto the market right now – especially at the Top End (look at our stock graphs in Market News). This has to be good for buyers. Where in recent times our main role has been finding quality homes – the bulk or our work has moved to assessment and negotiation. Price is such a movable beast right now and it’s good, as a buyer, to have an open mind and strategies (within your acceptable risk v reward parameters) to take advantage of the lay of the land. Please that is not to say that all the goodies are being given away – far from it – but once a home falls into that certain category (eg stale, overpriced or a B grader) then significant discounts are possible – if the vendor wants to sell. Yes you need to know what to do, how to do it and when to do it – but professional advice can fill that knowledge gap for you. Two properties purchased in the last fortnight or so $700,000+ off the original asking price and that was a $3m home and $300,000+ off the original asking price and that was a $2,000,000 home. The market is operating normally – however now, more so than at any other time this year, it is a true buyers’ market – Great Choice and Negotiable Prices. Buy Well.

Wednesday 15th November: 4 Kiers Court Caulfield North (Phillip French)  one of the more distinctive homes I have seen this year is now reported as sold in excess of $3,000,000. Our James Home Rating was 684/1000 (see below) and what the owners did with a difficult block was in my opinion, amazing and the price was solid. Also a huge block at 181 Gipps St East Melbourne (Sarah Case) over 1000 sqm was bought undisclosed (over $5,000,000) and finally to complete the RT Edgar trifecta 29 Loch St, St Kilda West (Anthony Grimwade) almost 1000 sqm plus period home was bought for $3,800,000.

Tuesday 14th November: 3/61 Nepean Highway Aspendale (Rowan Thompson) which we reported as passed-in on the weekend, has now been bought for $3,150,000.

TOORAK 49 Mathoura Road, Justin Long, 4 Bidders, $5,220,000

Saturday 12th November: 3 biggies – 2 bought and 1 passed in.

47 Kinkora Rd, Hawthorn, Peter Batrouney (Jellis Craig); Under the hammer, $5,660,000, 4 bidders
Grace Park, north-facing rear, big land and beautiful period home. Some may say a drover’s dog could sell this on a sunny day, but that would be unfair on Peter Batrouney and Campbell Ward. This writer knows for sure we will get a first rate performance and in all likelihood a very solid result. About 120 have gathered in the back yard and we begin with a vendor bid of $5,000,000. Quickly in $50,000s between Bidder 1 and Bidder 2 we reach $5,300,000 and a half time break. Two more bidders join in and it’s on the market at $5,500,000. A few more bids and it’s all over at $5,660,000. A typical successful Peter Batrouney and Campbell Ward / Grace Park auction.

49 Mathoura Road Toorak, Justin Long: Under the hammer, $5,220,000, 5 bidders
Justin Long is a very experienced and capable auctioneer and he needed to be today as he was put under pressure by bidders constantly trying to reduce the bids he was calling for. He held firm time and time again, and in the end the vendors would have to think (whether they were happy with the price or not) that without Justin’s skill and endeavours, this property might not have been sold this weekend. Five bidders all with their own individual strategies locked horns for 45 minutes involving breaks and multiple “is it on the market?” questions. The opening bid was $4,000,000, the property declared on the market at $4,950,000 and eventually bought under the hammer for $5,220,000.

Biggest Pass In: 3/61 Nepean Hwy, Aspendale, Rowan Thompson (RT Edgar); Passed in $3,000,000, 1 bidder
The excitement was in the air and the house was buzzing with people enjoying the sunshine and the stunning panoramic view of the beach literally on the doorstep.  With only 500 beach front homes in Melbourne, explained auctioneer Rowan Thompson to the large crowd of 100, the “international standard resort style property” represented  a wonderful opportunity.  Mr Thompson opened proceedings with a vendor bid of $2,800,000 and sought $100,000 rises.  With Mr Thompson’s encouragement, a bidder from the crowd obliged with a bid of $2,900,000.  A vendor bid of $3,000,000 followed and despite Mr Thomson’s best efforts, there was no further bidding on the day and the property was passed in on the vendor bid.

Friday 11th November: This is a typical week at the Top End for me. I have been through the following homes, given them a James Home Ratings (not for public display), calculated buyer value and price ranges and noted a few negotiation strategy issues each home may present when attempting to maximise buyer outcomes:

PRICE: $3,000,000+ (Agent Quote)
POSITION: 7 Linacre Road, Hampton, (Jenny Dwyer)
PROPERTY: James Home Rating Excerpt: Complex family home with water views (quality ones of Yacht Club), multiple living areas, 5 bedrooms on one level, dual staircases, basement and all on 635 sqm in one of Melbourne best inner seaside precincts. Price – that will be interesting as will the method of sale – both rare birds for this part of the world right now.

PRICE: $5,250,000 (Asking Price)
POSITION: 29 Seymour Grove, Brighton (Ian Jackson)
PROPERTY: James Home Rating Excerpt: North-facing rear, brand-new build on a big block around 1,000 sqm. Upstairs is very good, perhaps a lift was needed at this price. It’s to a formula and one that always sells when buyer meets seller or vice versa on price – that meeting price – well that is the big question? I remember going to the land auction around the start of the GFC (early 2008) and it was bought quite well at $2,100 per sqm – bought quiet well, considering what other knockdowns in this street and Wolseley had gone for, a short time before this auction.

PRICE: $8,000,000 ish (Agent Quote)
POSITION: 18 Fitzroy St, Kilda (Michael Gibson)
PROPERTY: James Home Rating Excerpt: Has already received a lot of publicity due to its current owner and the facade photograph is wonderfully enticing. A home of pluses and minuses for different family types. One of the real pluses for some families would be the rooftop pool – spectacular is an understatement. Location is also smack bang in the middle of the action. Building was an advertising agency office in a previous life – although much of the work was already done when this last sold (twice in 2004 between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000) .

PRICE: $6,500,000 plus (Agent Quote)
POSITION: 21 Isabella Grove, Hawthorn (Scott Patterson)
PROPERTY: James Home Rating Excerpt: It’s a trip back in time. The entrance really looks like a movie set from Charles Dickens (love the dome). One of the most powerful views for me was actually through the kitchen window of what would have been servant’s quarters – the form the steps take going back up across the road stick in my mind. The home itself is obviously one for specific tastes and you will have a few issues to get your head around if you are going to be the buyer – but that could be well worth the mental effort.

PRICE: Circle $10m to $12m (Agent Quote)
POSITION: 1 Harcourt St, Hawthorn East (James Tostevin)
PROPERTY: James Home Rating Excerpt: Most “in the trade” would describe this as a big thumper and the agent quote estimate says you are going to need a big wallet to match. Valuing this would require an open mind and purchasing well, would require a firm base on goals and a flexible strategy to test on many levels. The house – well – it’s not about the house, there are bones to work with. No, in my opinion it is all about is the land and more to the point the shape of the land and where the home sits and what you want and can do within its limitations. So is the land worth the $sqm of  say no 49 Harcourt which had two bidders at auction and went for over $7,200,000 last year or is there a discount involved? Challenges for all parties if this is to be a deal.

PRICE: In the picture you can see next door which was also subject to a similar campaign recently at a similar asking price tag ($20,000,000 to $30,000,000). The price –  if it does indeed sell – will be a source of conjecture, supposition and innuendo for months to come just like Shakespeare Grove was last year and just like when this home was so famously bought and sold last time (a decade ag0).
POSITION: 1 Towers Rd, Toorak (Michael Gibson)
PROPERTY: James Home Rating Excerpt: Wow – if you can work out a way to get through this home you should. An art deco masterpiece with pool, tennis court, contemplative gardens all on a Toorak acre. The entrance and view from the kitchen are very powerful. At this price level, there are many more questions, but it always comes back to one final one, when the others have been answered – How can I buy this for the best possible price? Your answer may well be determined by the relationships you keep.

PRICE: Around $3million is Agent Jock’s quote
POSITION: 58 Glyndon Rd, Camberwell (Jock Langley)
PROPERTY: James Home Rating Excerpt: Big home in the “almost ‘burbs” on 2100 sqm with tennis court – it’s all about the land. Set down for a private auction as opposed to a public one – (mmmmm, that’s an interesting twist) on November 23rd. What is the land per sqm at this size worth? How many other competitors do I really have in this market? Am I better to go before and if not successful how will I manage a Jock Langley pass-in?

PRICE: Around $4,500,000 (Agent Quote)
POSITION: 68 Molesworth St, Kew (Hamish Tostevin)
PROPERTY: James Home Rating Excerpt: This is a home of thought and quality – and with a price tag quoted over $4.5m if you are going to be the buyer you are going to have to put some thought and quality into how to go about this – such as, what is this home really worth? It is a very specific home – big in size, lifts, views, a lot of WOW. Attention to detail is obvious. But what about heating and cooling and sun with all that glass. Land value is not hard but home value – is this a $1.5m or a $2.5m build and will that matter? One of those buys where process is so very important if you want to buy well. A rare offering for the modern home buyer and worthy of serious consideration.

Grand Sale Land Sale in Kew - Tender Closing Today (Friday 11th November). It will be interesting to see what happens at 6-12 Madden Grove Kew on this mini-subdivision of 4 blocks around 600 sqm each. Mark Dayman and Antony Woodley taking in the offers and have expectations above $2,000 per square metre.

Thursday 10th November: Another three strongish Toorak buys in the last week.

• 16 Kenley Court Toorak (Michael Gibson of Kay and Burton) – Bought for over $12 million for nearly 2000 sqm of land a very substantial home. James Home Rating 779/1000. Excerpt from James Home Rating:

The big pluses for me are the court location, the look from the street and the gardens – tranquil, serene, sanctuary – all those words that are antonyms to stress. This is what the gardens are, and for me they are the major selling point to 16 Kenley. The home, well for most of us (i.e. those who can’t afford it) it’s a rare and magnificent home. However for buyers at this level I think they will find some issues with the floorplan – especially the position and connection between the kitchen and living area  and the front staircase so close to the front door. This seems an afterthought and does detract a little from the majesty of the entrance. Walking through the home I keep thinking of the gardens, the location and the land size more so than the building. However if you can afford 16 Kenley then you can afford to make the changes you want. And so, like almost offerings at this level in Toorak, it comes back to: when do you want to buy, what is available, what is the right exchange price and how best do you go about the process?

• 24-26 Balmerino Ave, Toorak (Justin Long of Marshall White and Hugh Hardy of Bennison Mackinnon) – 1850 sqm of land inc tennis court. Passed in at the Thursday afternoon auction for $7,000,000 and was bought immediately afterwards for an undisclosed amount. As I went through this home it felt mostly about the land and the sweeping views, however I suppose that is the way with almost all Toorak homes. The end result was $3,800 per sqm approx.
• 4 Lisbuoy Court Toorak (Nicole Gleeson and Michael Gibson) – Townhouse with some land, bought for over $4,000,000.

Greg Costello and Tim Wilson in full swing on the Brighton Golden Mile - continuing to sell at $10,000 per sqm. See report below

Week Ending November 5th: Has the action returned after the September excitement was followed by an early October siesta? We think yes – it is back. People do have cash and they are parting with it when they find the right home. In the last 10 days at least 9 homes over $4 million have been bought and sold.

Some Auction Results this weekend

• Biggest Sale: 2 Mytton Grove, Brighton, Greg Costello (RT Edgar); Under the hammer $6,050,000, 2 bidders
  Brighton Golden Mile Beachfront – these are four words that mean money. In recent times that has meant $8000 to $10,000 per sqm – at least at the northern end. A question our auctioneer Greg Costello asked in his opening spiel was “is this southern part of the Golden Mile more highly regarded than the northern part due to the activity on the beachfront?” Personally, as I run past here every day I think yes, but the auction result will tell us for sure. With the blue sea as our backdrop I’m expecting an exciting auction – irrespective of the market this stuff always sells. Greg Costello is conducting proceedings in front of a small crowd of 30. We start with an opening bid of $4,850,000 from Bidder one. $5,000,000 comes in from Bidder two strongly – solid bid. $5,100,000 from a third bidder – who as it turns out was with Bidder one – so we don’t count him – strange strategy that one. Anyway with a fair bit of action we move up to $5,600,000 in various amounts and then to $5,750,000. At all times Bidder two looks in control and is bidding very well and with some intimidation without being over the top. Normally Greg Costello is in excellent form but today was not his best day with bid retention and there are a number of confusing referrals back to his penciller for clarification. At $5,900,000 the “is it on the market?” question was asked, and after a quick referral, an affirmative answer is returned. There are two more decisive bids from Bidder two and its all his at $6,050,000. Loved the winning bidder’s style – aggressive and sensible and much better than his opponent and also many so called professionals that I have witnessed recently – well done sir – we have a job for you here if you care to apply. (Mal James)

• Other Brighton Golden Mile Results: 2 Mytton at $6,050,000 divided by 613 sqm = $9,869 per sqm or almost identical for previous absolute beachfront sqm rates over the past year (which have maintained themselves in the last year and increased on previous high water marks). 8 Moule Avenue (David Hart) is a classic Golden Mile address (but not absolute beachfront) and sold this weekend for $2,310,000 or $3,510 per metre. On first glance that is not expensive, but it is in fact not too far off previous Golden Mile sqm rates. A third Golden Mile property 15 Dudley St (Regina and Brian) sold for in excess of its pass-in figure at $4,400,000 which, again considering the house was nothing other than a nice facade, was a very, very solid result.
• Biggest Pass In: 58 Kooyongkoot Rd, Hawthorn, Scott Patterson (Kay & Burton); passed in, $3,400,000, no bidders
  Could you find a better setting for a Melbourne Spring auction? A tranquil backyard by the pool! In front of around 60 people, auctioneer Scott Patterson gave his usual professional best to attract some crowd bidding but this was to no avail. The property passed in after two vendor bids – $3,300,000 and $3,400,000 respectively – and remains for private sale. (Adam Woledge)
• Bidderbuzz Auction: 15 Chastleton Ave, Toorak, Warwick Anderson (RT Edgar); Under the hammer, $4,135,000, 4 bidders
  Spirited bidding after a slow start was a welcome sequence at the auction of this single level home in Toorak. A crowd of 80 neighbours chatted quietly throughout the action, eagerly anticipating the value to be determined by the market. After opening on a vendor bid of $3,400,000 and the declaration that the council had valued the property at $3,700,000, auctioneer Warwick Anderson tried to keep pace with the determined 4 bidders. After the second vendor referral, Warwick announced the property on the market at $3,800,000 but the strong bidding continued, with bidder number 4 securing the home at $4,135,000. (Gina Kantzas)

RT Edgar: Has had a pretty solid time with 8 properties selling over $2 million in less than a week, including an off market at 68 Walsh St believed to be around $4 million, not mentioned in above dispatches.

October 29th: Excerpt from October 15th James Marketnews: Want a home with a Tennis Court in Toorak? Got around $6 million dollars? In the last week we visited, assessed and rated: 11 Scotsburn Toorak (Andrew Smith), 10 Montalto Toorak (Mike Gibson) and 25 Scott Glen Iris (Rae Tomlinson). All have tennis courts.

The Question: After Super Saturday would these 3 not sell, sell lower or would the Mexican Wave** (see explanation below) kick in and they all sell once one had gone.
The Answer: The Jungle Drums beat loudly and the Mexican Wave kicked in with all three selling within 24 hours of each other. All three had quotes of $5m to $6m during their campaigns. Scotsburn was bought after a weekend pass-in (believed to be around $5m), Montalto was for most of its campaign a private sale (but finished in a Boardroom Auction at just over $7m) and Scott Grove was an Expressions of Interest closing Wednesday (reportedly 3 interested parties and sold 2 hours after the deadline for well over $6m).

October 29th: 54 Hanby St Brighton (above) (Kevin O’Brien) – The only auction I came out for today. Damian Davis – a bit out of his normal territory started up the engines with a solid opening spiel in front of a crowd of around 50. After he had finished his coverage on the home’s flow, light and feel, he asked for $3,300,000 from the crowd. Nothing was forthcoming, so a vendor bid at $3,300,000. Another vendor bid at $3,350,000 and a half time break did nothing to excite and so the words pass in brought an end to the proceedings on this lovely home that has a vendor at one level and potential buyers seemingly at another.

October 25th: 25 Scott Grove Glen Iris (Rae Tomlinson and James Connell): Bought within 2 hours of close of play for well in excess of the $6m+ price tag. This was a very good home on a very big parcel of land and the result was deserved and expected for a quality A grader – we rated it at almost 3 hats or 791/1000 (see our rating below). And a good night for Marshall White overall with 34 Chatsworth Prahran being sold through Madeleine Kennedy for $3,137,000.

October 24th: The collection of Expressions of Interest campaigns finishing in late October/Early November will be watched by many. There are some great homes, but the results this last weekend indicate they may not sell as strongly as September results suggested they might. We are monitoring a geographically widespread sample – all over $3m and will bring you the results as they come. Lets see if the K&B Mexican Wave** is in play for the Top End buyers or have taken their bat and ball and gone home.

**K&B’s Mexican Wave: It is possible that the above marketing campaigns could in fact produce higher results if we see more marketing campaigns in the style of Kay and Burton’s Mexican Wave effect. It’s just like at the MCG: Kay and Burton brings a group of homes together and push and prod till they get one buyer to perform and then uses that result to get other buyers to put their hands up on other homes. This is planned months beforehand, it’s totally legitimate, it’s brilliant in concept and it’s why people like Ross Savas and Mike Gibson are worth their fees and then some. Other Mexican Wave agents who plan and execute well are Marcus Chiminello, Rae Tomlinson, Heather Elder, Justin Long and Peter Bennison of Marshall White to name a few. However K&B are the absolute masters at the Mexican Wave.

Alastair Craig and Richard Winneke maneuver 3 bidders to a bought price of $2,855,000. This is where some of last spring's $3M plus action is right now at $3M minus.

October 22nd: During 2011 the $3M+ market has been as fickle as we can remember: it disappeared for most of the year, came back with a vengeance in September and has now seemingly run away lost again.
To demonstrate the point, only two homes out of 150+ scheduled $M+ auctions reported a sale price over $3 million today.  Yes two – that’s not many.

They were 34 Stevenson St, Kew with James Tostevin, which sold after auction and 7 Barrington Ave, also in Kew, with Scott Patterson, which sold before auction.

Mid- Week Apartment Auction: 3002/368 St Kilda Road (Marcus Chiminello) – Thursday night auction @ 7.00 pm. A similar property in the same building on the same side, same square metres, same décor, sold for $3.3m a short time ago. Quoting $3.3m plus then $3.5m plus. Surprising to have an auction in St Kilda Road but Marcus Chiminello and Nicole French (the new Batman and Robin) lined up auctioneer Growling Jack Bongiorno and 3 bidders fought it out past the last sale sales, past the first quote and the last quote and all the way up to $3,800,000.

Why did it sell so well? Demand exceeding Supply for North orientation; 315 sqm size with car parking on the 1st floor (no dizziness getting in and getting out) and Shrine views. Well marketed by one of the best in the business at this stuff.

Price: Has been gently improving in some key blocks on some key apartments – but it’s all about the apartment characteristics. There are literally hundreds of apartments above a million that have no buyers at all, because they have nothing unique to offer except a very cheap price.

Biggest Sale: 38 Kerferd St, Malvern East, Glen Coutinho (Hocking Stuart); Under hammer, $2,862,000, 4 bidders
Wow what an auction! This is as intense as it gets. Glen Coutinho has firmed as one of the best auctioneers in Melbourne in my humble opinion. What started out with meek interest from a lively crowd of around 70 people turned into the most hotly contested auction I’ve ever seen. A modest opening bid of $2,350,000 was announced from one party in the crowd and was quickly overtaken by another for $2,355,000.  The two went back and forth in increments of $5,000, then $2,000, then $10,000. Once the price reached $2,501,000 it seemed as though the action had come to a head, and Mr Coutinho retreated to his vendors to discuss the situation. Confident of reaching the price he and his vendors desired, Mr Coutinho continued unabated, knowing full well there were several other parties very interested in the property. As the property was being called down for a fourth time a third party entered the fray, bidding $2,540,000. This guy was ready for a showdown, but the original bidder stuck to it and was relentless in his pursuit of the Glen Iris home. Unable to continue, the young lion who made a worthy challenge correctly backed off, leaving the fight wounded but not insulted. At this point the crowd was able to breathe momentarily, but it wasn’t over! A fourth man entered the mix, and began his challenge. He proceeded to walk across the road towards the original bidder attempting to eye him down, but the original bidder was having none of it. As those who play enough poker know, when someone shows aggression towards you, it is generally a sign of weakness. Fortunately, the original bidder (who probably doesn’t play poker) picked up on the bluff and showed no signs of folding. Once the figure reached $2,862,000, the new combatant gave up announcing: ‘he can have it,’ and the auction ended with a standing ovation from the crowd, although it may have only been an ovation as they were already standing. (Daniel Ehrenreich)

Biggest Pass In: 11 Scotsburn Grove, Toorak, Jeremy Fox (RT Edgar); Passed in, $5,000,000, 1 bidder
A small crowd of around 40 and half are Toorak agents just looking. Jeremy Fox gives us a good solid spiel and we are away. Or are we? Jeremy calls for a $5,000,000 opening bid and gets nothing but silence. He goes inside for his half time break and leaves us all in the rain – actually he was pretty quick to return. I’m typing in Passed in on my Ipad and – whoops no – there was a genuine bid and $5,000,000 is taken up. Then it is passed in to the lone bidder. We await the outcome. (Mal James)

October 15th: Quality Stock Levels have improved for Buyers:
Good levels of good stock came into the market late September and buyers began to take deeper breaths and relax a little.  Angst dissipated somewhat as quality buyer saw more quality homes they could buy, diminishing the spectre of missing out on a home, leading to a drop in buyer urgency and ultimately price.

This Quality Supply Increase is best demonstrated at the Top End.

Want a home with a Tennis Court in Toorak? Got around $6 million dollars?

In the last week we visited, assessed and rated: 11 Scotsburn Toorak (Andrew Smith), 10 Montalto Toorak (Mike Gibson) and 25 Scott Glen Iris (Rae Tomlinson). All have tennis courts. So even if there are 10 buyers for tennis courts at this price level, there’s a fair bit a choice there. If normal market forces prevail and the buyers have good representation, then the prices on all three could be lower than if there was only one of these homes on offer. That’s unless, of course, one home is more strongly favoured than the others by a significant number of those 10 buyers – or if the Mexican Wave effect happens (see below).

Similarly in the last week we have been through some really good new home offerings at over $6 million, including 14 Kilsyth Toorak (Michael Armstrong); 15 Vista Toorak (Nicole Gleeson) and 33 Coppin Grove Hawthorn ( Scott Patterson) – see our ratings over the coming week.

These are just some examples. And in fact, quality stock levels have improved at all price levels. This is good news for Top End buyers and the reason we think October 2011 and hopefully November 2011 will be better months for buyers than were Winter 2011 and September 2011 in terms of:

1. More choice

2. Less chance of the runaway prices.

This price segment is all about either side of the Melbourne Cup – as a number of Expressions of Interest, Private Sale and Auction campaigns are scheduled for some sort of conclusion at that time. We anticipate publicly reporting in  early November as to market movements since September’s price and activity spiking.

25 Campbell Road Balwyn - Peter Mitchell - Under the hammer - $3,000,000 - 5 bidders

Week 4 September 24th: Overall market interest is down this week, best evidenced by the fact we had 30% less Marketnews readers on the Monday of  this week than the past two month average (alternatively we may be just getting boring). While some new AFL coaches bobbed up, so have some interesting homes and it may be worth your while to revisit your contacts to see what new offerings are on the horizon. The internet portals are showing more homes in the Upper End than they have for a while and this is due to the agents planning an extended campaign to manage arrange the Grand Final while still trying to get the home done and dusted prior to the Melbourne Cup. So this week may have been more interesting than you thought but soon it will be back to “quiet and low new stock” as far as listings go until the second week of November post Melbourne Cup (hopefully).

Biggest Sale: 2 Albert St, Brighton, Leigh Hallamore (Buxton); after auction, in excess of $3,100,000, 3 bidders
With a relatively big crowd of 60 lining both sides of Albert St, there was a feeling in the air that this auction would be an exciting one. And, although he had to open on a vendor bid of $2,500,000 to kick-start proceedings, auctioneer Leigh Hallamore soon had a tightly contested battle between three parties on his hands. Bidding was strong and constant with bidder 3 eventually earning the right to negotiate after the property was passed in at $3,120,000. Bought after for an undisclosed amount. (Jen Milligan)

Biggest Pass In: 324 Beaconsfield Pde, St Kilda West, Andrew Stuart (Hocking Stuart); Passed in, $5,000,000, no bidders
Auction Andrew Stuart took great pleasure in explaining to the crowd how the under-ground car lift and turning circle worked – with a  practical demonstration. Demonstrations over, Andrew asked for a bid somewhere near the lower end of the quoted range. No one offered a bid and  a vendor bid of $5,000,000 was made – still no interest and half time was called. Half time was short and sweet. The property was reoffered again and surprise, surprise – no bids and the property was passed in at $5,000,000. It has been a long time since a property on Beaonsfield Parade has sold under the hammer. Sales are being transacted its just taking some time for vendor and buyer to reach that all important middle ground. (Guy Angwin)

Bidderbuzz Auction: 25 Campbell Rd, Balwyn, Antony Woodley (Marhsall White); under the hammer, $3,000,000, 5 bidders
Antony Woodley took the helm and fielded bids from 5 parties before the hammer fell at $3,000,000; after being on the market around $2,700,000. Around 70 people attended this auction. Full report in Market News (Adam Woledge)

Some clean ups from previous auctions and another few off markets and quiet results for the month.

• 34 Tormey St Balwyn North – James Tostevin – after auction for around $3,000,000
• Brighton 12 North Road – Jonathan Dixon – off market – over $5,000,000
• Toorak 67 Lansell Road – Andrew Harlock – after auction – over $3,500,000
• Toorak 1 Sargood – Lachlan and Paul Castran – Expressions of Interest – new home – undisclosed
• Balwyn 49 Metung St – John Bradbury – Expressions of Interest – new home – undisclosed
• Kew 26 Dean St – James and Hamish Tostevin – Expressions of Interest – new home – over $4,000,000

Not everything sells at the top - 111 Walsh South Yarra - Passed-In $3,250,000

Week 3 September 17th: Good quality Top End (around $3m and above) continues to change hands in strong numbers.

• 40 Balwyn Canterbury Peter Dixon over $3,000,000
• 37 Fairview Hawthorn Jeff Gole just under $3,000,000
• 3 Gardiner Hawthorn Hamish and James Tostevin – 5 bidders $3,850,000
• 41 Drummond Carlton James Keenan – $3,160,000
• There were $3m pass-ins at 111 Walsh South Yarra and 2-4 Sandown in Brighton.

During the week these $3M+ were bought

• 48 Hampden Road Armadale Andrew Baines over $6,500,000
• 45 Martin Brighton Ian Jackson just under $4,000,000
• 42 Matlock Canterbury Sam Wilkinson just over $3,000,000
• 198 The Esplanade Stewart Lopez – were quoting in excess of $6,000,000 – undisclosed

This September, to date, we are aware of 26+ sales in the is $3m and above price range – see our $3Million Plus report. If you look at our $3Million Plus market report for last year, September 2010, we got to 46 boughts by months end – http://marketnews.com.au/2010/09/two-9-million-homes-bought-on-monday/ and that was pretty much a solid activity time in the market. The Top End has some ooomph just now.

Michael Gibson and Justin Follett of Kay and Burton were both a bit chipper when I spoke to them this weekend and assured me that while the market may seem a little boring until the end of the school holidays, there are some good homes coming on after that. Hopefully post Melbourne Cup as well. Michael added that vendor moods have improved with the Top End good news of recent times. We hope he is right as that will mean more choice for buyers.

78 Blessington St Kilda - John Bongiorno - 6 bidders - Under the Hammer for $3,400,000

Week Two September 10: With the third week in a row of significant competition on A grade Top End homes there is little doubt we are now firmly in the midst of  an activity spike due to significant stock shortages of “ready to move in family period and new homes” in the $2m to $6m range.

On top of what we saw 2 weeks ago (11 sales at $55m with an average of 2 bidders each) and last week (7 from 8 bought over $3m) we saw solid results this weekend at:

1. Kew 20 Barry – Peter Batrouney 3 bidders, under the hammer, $3,850,000
2. St Kilda 78 Blessington – John Bongiorno $3,400,000, 6 bidders.
3. Armadale 46 Stuart – Andrew Hayne 2 bidders, after auction, over $3,300,000
4. Malvern East 58 Kerferd – John Bongiorno, 1 bidder after auction, $3,075,000
5. Malvern East – Little Como – 50 Finch – Gowan Stubbings – Expressions of Interest – It was a long battle but there is a sold sticker on the board.
6. Toorak 8 Ultimo – Justin Long – After Auction – 3 bidders – $2,900,000

Whilst the market is giving a big tick to those it likes (well priced A graders); it is marking very harshly those that is doesn’t and they are best summarized as B or C graders – homes that have issues. Some examples below

1. Toorak 32 Canberra – its old and tired – big land though.
2. Kew 2 -4 Heather – No backyard, no garage and no real interest.
3. Malvern East 4-6 Finch – 0 bidders – a big reno required and only a few metres from Dandenong Road

And then there is 22 Surrey Road Toorak – Auction was due today – converted to Expressions of Interest at the last minute. What does this mean?

Yes our focus in Marketnews seems to be all at the top of Top End ($3M+). Right now that is where the real action is. There has been an unequivocal mood change that does not seem to have been shared by the market at the lower dollar values.

Buyers are now having to answer some very real questions.

What is the real price? – Eg What is the highest other bidder prepared to pay, if indeed there is one? As a buyer am I trying to buy an A grader or a C grader – am I $300,000 below the other bidder or $300,000 above nobody!

What should my new strategy be in trying to purchase a Top End home? Extract from an MW St Kilda auction report “This market now plays to MW’s great little system and strength – shake the buyers up, show ‘em their competition, work out who is the strongest, then pass it into them and mentally torture them in post auction dealings by referring to those outside. It’s very hard to argue with it’s effectiveness, for if you don’t play the game, on a good home in this market, then there is a high chance somebody else will. This market is now spiking in the direction that will enhance MW’s reputation amongst sellers but …  um how do I say un-enhance their reputation amongst buyers.” This applies to not only Marshall White, but Jellis Craig, Kay and Burton, RT Edgar, Benmac and many of the Bayside agents. The main question for buyers is not it’s legitimacy (the sellers absolutely want this); its how do I best manage it and achieve my main goal within my buyer risk profile.

How will you manage a negotiation situation under extreme pressure – then is not the time to work out a plan. After the event is not a time to say I could have done it a lot better. The market has changed at this level, and may well change again, as a buyer have you moved with the times?

Strong Crowd at South Melbourne 210 Nelson Road - Anthony Grimwade - Under the hammer - 3 bidders

Week One September 3: My week this week. A good week with another $3M+ purchase for a satisfied client – which makes a good string of activity in the last month for our company. Overall a solid start to Spring after a less than exciting Winter (well I enjoyed Scotland with my son anyway). A magic moment for me was the home at 8 Torrington Place in Canterbury (Michael Armstrong of Kay and Burton). We will have a rating up in the next few days – but in a nutshell it’s a very brave new build home. Its Olde English for a start, which already loses most of you; but it is built to such a standard that when its attracts a suitor to its sweet offerings they will be entranced and will move to a mindset of I have to have this. The French Provincial being built next door will attract more; but this home will attract a greater intensity of interest. The price – well its asking $5million and for me the end result will be give or take a million and the sold sticker will be slapped on in an almost impossible to guess timeframe. That will depend on when the specific bee walks into this very specific honey pot. A lovely, well thought out, beautifully crafted home – go and check it out – its open mid week and weekends or google for our rating by weeks end. Please we are happy to be more specific on perhaps how best to buy it; if indeed it’s of interest to you.

My other magic moment was the 29 Rose St Armadale Auction: I really love watching Heather and Rae (Marshall White) at work – they are masters at their craft also – just like the developers of 8 Torrington. The two of them had positioned buyers on this home (last sold for around $2,500,000 in mid 2008) to get involved in the biggest shootout I have personally witnessed at an auction this year. And they lined up one of the best sheriffs to take all-comers on – Growling Jack (John Bongiorno) and boy did he fire up – to use the vernacular he stuck it right up ‘em and corralled 9 bidders into the final $3,030,000 result. It was very powerful to watch and while not reflective of the overall market right now, it did provide a pointer to the current lack of stock at the $3m+ level and a beacon for those that feel the only way forward is without hope. Sure we are all a bit nervous, but things are simply not as bad as The Age daily headlines make you think they are – well not right now in the $3m+ segment anyway.

Again the standout $ segment – granted on very low numbers ( 6 from 8 ) Yes there were some big pass-ins like 67 Lansell Road Toorak ($3,200,000 vb) but it has some challenges. Also passed-in 2 Iona Toorak ($5,000,000 vb) – postscript: was bought over the weekend.  However the ones that were bought this week showed, in the main, multiple interest.

• Toorak 2 Iona – Jeremy Fox – bought after auction $5,080,000
• Armadale 29 Rose  – see report below 9 bidders $3,030,000
• Malvern East 7 Bates – Heather Elder and Rae Tomlinson – 3 bidders – bought after for $3,500,000+
• Hawthorn 34 Coppin Grove Jack Bongiorno – 3 bidders – under the hammer – $4,110,000
• South Melbourne 210 Nelson – Anthony Grimwade – 3 bidders – under the hammer – $4,215,000
• Toorak 19 Sargood – Jeremy Fox – 2 bidders – bought after – $4,700,000.
• Balwyn 12 Creswick – William Chen – Bought Before – Undisclosed – around $3,000,000 . This was after a failed auction earlier in the year.
• Canterbury 52 Mont Albert – Karen Gornalle – Private Sale – over $3,800,000.
• Hawthorn East 5 Constance – John Chartres – After Auction – just under $3,000,000. 2 bidders.

The Block was great entertainment – but for me it was also the best reality TV show in a decade because it showed the harsh reality of what happens when you break all the rules in the property investment book.

I took the opportunity to go through each property a few weeks before the auctions and assessed them according to our James Home Ratings criteria. What stood out most, apart from the fact that it was a hugely popular show that captured everyone’s imagination, was how many rules were broken. Breaking those rules has led almost inevitably to the end result, where only one of the properties sold under the hammer at auction. Sorry guys, but this was always going to a disaster in the making. For us though as viewers, it was an invaluable lesson in how not to make money through property.

So what did we learn from the show apart from the fact that Josh is getting married to Jenna?

Rule No 1: You make your money when you buy

If you’re buying property as an investment and you’re hoping to make a profit on the resale, what really matters is not the selling price but how much you pay for the original property. Okay we understand that Channel 9 was more interested in the show’s ratings than the profit they’d make on reselling the properties. But the price they paid for the initial properties was way too much. Sure it was a big block, and it had four houses on it, but at an average of around $900,000 per site, plus stamp duties of around $50,000 each, plus holding costs of 6% (another $50,000+ each), plus the selling agent fees…Well each home was priced at well over a million dollars before the first contestant even showed up and the first nail was hammered.

Rule No 2: Buy the best position you can

This for me was the real killer – the position was a shocker. Yes the properties were close to all amenities but anything in Richmond is close to all amenities. Have you been down that street at night? It’s scary. Stand in the street or look on Google streetview and do a 360 degree turn – what do you see? Industrial sites, multi storey car parks.  And who knows what is going there in the future? What if it’s a panel beater shop and you end up with the smell of paint thinners in the morning? There’s a vacant block of land to the west of No 37 that has recently changed hands for just over a $1million: who knows what will go in there?

Rule No 3: Consider your target market – before you start!

The properties themselves had some real positives in terms of the land. The north orientation will bring light and winter warmth into those back living areas. So sure, that’s a tick. They all had good street appeal (tick) and the block widths were above average for the area, meaning the homes could give that feeling of space which is very important in a home (tick). However they all had another huge negative: on top of the scary street there was no car-parking. Which means that your future buyers or renters are going to have park their car at night somewhere in the street. So that is going to knock single women, young married couples, and older couples out of your target market. In fact, just about anybody except students and local lads would have concerns about living here.

Rule No 4:  Don’t overcapitalize.

If you are about to spend $1million or so even before one sod of earth is turned or one nail is hammered AND you want to make a profit, you need to know whether you’re likely to recoup the costs of your renovation – and hopefully more. Otherwise you’re going to end up overcapitalising. How can you work that out? Well, look around you. What sales evidence was there in The Block area for $1.5million homes? Zippo. We can tell you this because coincidentally on the same day of the Block auction we bought a property at auction for a client in Richmond only a few hundred metres away. It was on bigger land,  it had car parking and good period features – and we got it for just over $1.2million. So if $1.5million is the minimum amount you need to make serious money, but there is little or no sales evidence of properties selling for that amount in the area – DON’T BUY.

Rule No 5: Amateurs don’t make money on renos – they make money because they are lucky that the market happens to be in an upwards phase.

Whenever someone tells me they made money on a renovation, I think, well, no you didn’t, you made money by buying the right home in the first place. They would have made the same, and maybe even more, by doing nothing. It’s the market that makes you money. If the market is not in your favour, most amateur renovators lose money and the Block confirmed this. The bloke at 35 Cameron St Richmond (the vacant block) made more money than all the renovators combined by doing little.

Rule No 6: Don’t think short term with property unless you like excessive risk

The Block also highlighted the risks of short term flipping. Besides the fundamental error in the initial choice, the market was also unkind to the contestants. Which again highlights the short term risks in property. To buy this year, tart up and flip next year is a strategy fraught with danger and can cost you a packet. Each of these homes lost at least $200,000 if you factor in all costs – and they probably lost a lot more.

Rule No 7: Choose local selling agents, who are experienced at your price range – and choose the best not the cheapest.

The four auctioneers chosen to sell The Block properties are all very good at their job. But it was interesting to note that the only home that sold under the hammer was sold by a local agent, Russell Cambridge. He is a good operator, as is his partner Sam Davenport, who got the buyers there. Glen Coutinho is a really good auctioneer but his patch is Hawthorn, which may be close but it is quite a different market to Richmond. Ruth Roberts is a top female auctioneer from whom we bought a property less than a fortnight ago – but she is well known in Carnegie, and that’s a long way from Richmond. And again, while Clayton Smith is a strong local agent, he was always up against it having to market the weakest home in terms of floorplan. There can’t be that many people wanting to buy in Cameron St and he was always going to get the leftovers. Tough gig. (By the way: well done to Jellis Craig and Biggin and Scott for their very generous donations to charity.)

Rule No 8: Good Buyer Agents are of value.

Apart from Frank Valentic who is a smart operator with Advantage, the buyers agents who showed up to The Block auctions were just embarrassing. Our apologies – this is not how normal quality buyer agents represent the clients and just shows that when you put a camera in front of an idiot, they are still an idiot. Notice how you didn’t see quality buyer agents like Morrell and Koren there trying to buy rubbish or making a fool of themselves – they simply didn’t recommend The Block homes to their clients.

Rule No 9:  Substance v Puffery

In homebuying, digital TVs, paint colours, furniture etc come and go. If you view our online ratings you will notice that we give a total of 1 point out of 1000 for stuff like cabling and shower screens etc. The other 999 points are for land, position and floorplan. And if you’ve learnt one thing off The Block then hopefully it’s that it is the price, property, and positional fundamentals that really count.

Unfortunately on all those three counts the contestants were doomed even before they started.

Printed each week in The Weekly Review, Melbourne’s million plus property magazine.

Week 4 August 27 2011: Not a lot happened at auction in this market this weekend at $3M+, with the exception of 25 Kent Avenue – the action was all last week and it was away from the auctions.

Biggest Sale: 25 Kent Ave, Brighton, Leigh Hallamore (Buxton); After auction, $6,400,000, 4 bidders
Crowd numbers were high to witness the auction of this rare absolute beachfront property.   Auctioneer Leigh Hallamore cleverly positioned himself along the back fence in front of the beach to maximise the emotional impact of the uninterrupted beach views of the (as it turned out) 4 bidders.  With at least three beachfront properties selling recently at $6m, $7m then resold for $8m and an undisclosed price, 25 Kent  was – as expected – strong.  An opening bid of $4m was a ‘dream price’.  A second bidder quickly upped the price to $5.9m and the bidding was on, stopping at $6.35m where the property was passed in to see if there was a bit more.  And there was: a final sale price of $6,400,000 or not too far off $10,000 per sqm if you saw no value in the home. (Kristen Hatt)

Marcus Chiminello of Marshall White: “We are currently seeing great activity in the upper end of  from both buyers and sellers emerging from the depths of winter and that are now prepared to participate in the market as opposed to the past weeks and months when many were prepared to just sit and watch the market. Most of the recent high end market sales have not been an overnight success, most requiring months of dialogue between agent, buyer & vendor. As demonstrated in recent weeks, I believe the trend of discreet off market transactions will continue to grow moving forward as vendors and purchasers alike at the higher end of the market seek privacy with their real estate transactions.”

$3M+ Market Summary: Activity in this $3M+ segment has been building most of this month of August but there has been little to show for it until this past week, which has been a stellar performance by any measure. Bidderman was over 2 on the $3M+ homes purchased.

Agents are reporting that buyers have started to change their attitudes – and for once we don’t think this is spin. The interest is at least partly because the market has been starved of interesting offerings like the property at 4 Mernda Rd, Kooyong (Ross Savas and Michael Armstrong), which was a beauty and had at least 3 bidders over $6million (and would possibly have had a few more if circumstances hadn’t pushed for an early finish to the Expressions of Interest campaign).

Last week’s powerhouse result for Paul Keane and Peter Batrouney at 9 Salisbury Balwyn, where 4 bidders produced another result over $6 million, indicates that some buyers have waited long enough and are saying: “OK if it’s good, it’s priced right and it meets my needs then I’m interested.” There was another one of these on Saturday over $6 million at 25 Kent Ave, Brighton (see full auction report below).

But before you think we’ve been sent a case of Moet by our new found friends on the other side – it’s all about the price and quality of specific properties.  The market is definitely not in an upward phase in terms of price. In fact unless your property is an A grader, and “correctly priced”, it’s likely the price is falling every day you ponder over the signed offer on the table (if you can get one). Smart sellers realise this.

Just to get some balance on what’s happening in terms of price:

• The Mont Albert property sold by Michael Ebeling that we report on below, was a good result. But it sold last year for basically the same price.
• The selling price of St Georges Road, Toorak property represented a greater than 10% discount on the initial asking price. It was a great result in that sub $9million range, but it had no takers for 6 months at $10million.

So what’s to account for this past week’s activity? Partly it’s because buyers can see less choice coming on the near future, due to the Grand Final being on later this year (thus preventing a normal 4 week auction campaign between Grand Final and Melbourne Cup). Partly it’s due to some good $3M+ homes on offer right now. And partly it’s due to underlying demand that has been there for some time. A lot though is because of correct price matching.

No doubt the next few months will see an increased number of stales (long term unsolds) – repackaged, rebadged and remarketed. If they are also repriced then who knows, maybe we will be off again and back to a more normal balanced market (which is what most buyers also want).

Of course, it could all  just be a dream and we will all wake up again soon.

There were some good Private Sales through the week and we saw a return to off market transactions, as well as two successful Expressions of Interest:

• Ross Savas and Michael Armstrong of Kay and Burton held a Boardroom Auction last Thursday for 4 Mernda Rd, Kooyong. (This had brought forward the original Expressions of Interest deadline for Tuesday of next week.) Its “on the market”  price was around $6,000,000, and it sold for between $6,000,000 and $6,500,000 with 3 bidders. See our ratings below.
• Michael Ebeling of RT Edgar got 12 Stanhope St, Mont Albert away for towards $3million – off market. This was around what it reportedly sold for last year. Not all bad news in that.
• Rob Vickers Willis and Tim Derham of Abercromby’s sold 10 William St, South Yarra under the hammer for over $5,000,000 at a Wednesday private auction. See our ratings and report below.
• Michael Cooney of Hodges sold 50 Ebden Ave, Black Rock (a two hatter with a 700+ rating) for over $3,400,000. This modern home was a goodie, but it’s been rare to see homes sold for more than $2 million in this area since 2009. So this was a good result and the best sale in Bayside we can report for the week.
• Expressions of Interest – 333 Glenferrie Rd, Malvern with Gerald Delany and Nicole Gleeson – sold for over $3,500,000.
• Post Last Week Auction Pass In 24 Hawthorn Grove, Hawthorn – Paul Keane – sold for an undisclosed amount above $3,000,000
• Off Market:4 Mathoura Rd, Toorak – Peter Bennison of Marshall White. This went to auction last year (or maybe earlier), and has now been traded for more than  $3,000,000
• Off Market:10 St Georges Rd, Toorak – Marcus Chiminello – This home has been through a few agents and while it did not achieve what we thought was an incredible asking price of $10,000,000 earlier in the year, it did actually get close to $9,000,000 in the last week or so – still an incredible price. See our home rating
• Off Market: 3 Murray St, Armadale also Marcus Chiminello. It also sold for just shy of $4,000,000 recently.

These sales represent the best or close to best numbers in this Top End $ segment this year.

Agent Survey: Why is this week’s $3M+ improved performance happening?

Paul Keane: With the stock-market on what appears a roller-coaster ride over the past month or so, people are retreating from it and investing that money in the good old “bricks and mortar”. I have spoken to several people over the past week and they believe the real estate market is off by about 10% from last year (some claim more) so if you are looking to upgrade your real estate portfolio there is so much upside….why not buy a $6m home that may have been worth $7m this time last year…..nothing much has really changed… only people’s mindsets are different.

Michael Armstrong: Some buyers are no longer getting burnt by the share market (they’re out). Some buyers have got sick of waiting. Some buyer attitudes have changed.  (Second tier homes though are continuing to drop in price.)

Mike Gibson: Definitely gained some traction in the last few weeks

9 Salisbury St, Balwyn - Peter Batrouney and Paul Keane. Competition by 4 bidders resulted in a very strong price under the hammer of $6,620,000

And now for a brief excursion back through the market of August 2011.

Week Three August 20, 2011: Whilst there was little, actually no doubt that prices were dropping across the general market and the $3M+ segment was well down on activity compared to this time last year there continued to be a tantalizing number of goings on to let those involved at this level think we may just be having something to do come Spring. Furthermore whilst we had been saying that activity off market was more talk than substance in the last week or so we were involved in and had seen a couple of deals that again confirmed that if the stock was actually for sale (meaning at market buy price not a seller dream price) then a deal could be done – as long as the buying  and selling agent were reasonable at their job and both the vendor and buyer had some patience. Boughts and solds this week

At Auction:

• 9 Salisbury St, Balwyn – Peter Batrouney and Paul Keane. 4 bidders resulting in a very strong price under the hammer of $6,620,000 ( See our auction report)
• 30 Mangarra Canterbury – James Tostevin. 4 bidders and a strong $3,210,000 under the hammer
• 24 Hawthorn Grove Hawthorn – Paul Keane – Post Auction for an undisclosed amount above $3,000,000

Kew, 49 Sackville St - James Tostevin - 4 bidders - Under the hammer $4,310,000

Week Two August 13, 2011: There was life at the Top End (even if the heartbeat was faint) as evidenced by some good Top End $3M+ results.

• South Yarra 83 Walsh – Justin Long and Peter Bennison – Bought After $4,842,950 – $5,327,750
• Kew 49 Sackville – James Tostevin – Under the hammer – 4 bidders – $4,310,000
• Camberwell 87 Broadway – Richard Winneke – Bought After – 1 bidder – $3,795,250
• Hawthorn 4 Glan Avon – James Tostevin – Under the hammer – 3 bidders – $2,815,000
• While mid week 8 Myoora Toorak (Over $10,000,000) did not sell at a Thursday auction (it’s a home that requires a very specific buyer and could be hard to sell even in a stronger market) -  8 Blackfriars Close Toorak (Justin Long) our biggest pass-in last week-end at $3,000,000 (0 bidders) did sell for $3,250,000 on Monday.
• Peninsula – in one of “the” streets – Spindrift in Flinders – we saw Marketnews favourite and nice lady Prue McLaughlin of Kay and Burton sell a home for an undisclosed amount well over $4,500,000. As well Andrew Hines got 57 Tubbarubba Merricks North (over 60 acres) away for around $3,500,000
• 19 Lovell St Hawthorn East -Modern home saw the Expressions of Interest campaign brought forward by Sam Wilkinson and Scott Patterson and a sold sticker in the mid $3m’s

Not quite $3m - which is the story of the $3M+ Market this 2011 winter - 18 Knutsford St, Balwyn, Richard Earle, Bought After for $2,730,000 on a vendor pass-in of $2,300,000.

Week One August 6, 2011: We had a few comments that we hadn’t put up a $3M+ market report since May. That was for a good reason – it would have been an almost blank sheet. However there were some sputters  of life from deep within – a sign that the top end engine could be starting to turn over again. From our own company’s point of view we were involved in 3 dealings after having been bereft of activity for most of winter at this level.

• A sale in Boroondara this last month at just over $6M – completely off market
• 24 Boxshall St, Brighton (David Hart), which has been on the market for a long time, has finally changed hands for just under $3M
• 4 Sussex St Brighton (Regina Schmidt and Brian Devlin) sold for a hard-to-believe $3,775,000. We attended that auction and the result was … well brilliant.
• and while down in Bayside, 2 Tennyson St, Brighton with Jonathan Dixon, after passing in at auction a month or so ago, just sold for around that pass-in figure and well over $3,000,000
• 12a Harrison Crescent, Hawthorn, which had a rating too low to put up on our site, was sold by Sam Wilkinson of Kay and Burton for over $3,000,000
• Along with 3 Irymple Ave, Glen Iris (Iain Carmichael); 5 Story St, Parkville (Tom Roberts) and 80 South Road, Brighton (Barb Gregory) in the last week, the Top End over $3M is trying to work its way back into some form.

Back to the Future – What’s up Ahead?

With a couple of big homes due for auction next weekend – including 49 Sackville St, Kew (James Tostevin); 7 Foote St, Brighton (Phillip French of RT Edgar) and 83 Walsh St, South Yarra (Peter Bennison and Justin Long)  - we will begin to see if there is some air at the higher altitudes as we limp into the footy finals – traditionally a key indicator for activity in the early and late Spring markets at the $3M+ level.

The big talk on the property market is auction clearance rates: the fact they are well below last year (true) and that they are perhaps even lower than what agents are claiming (maybe).

Last year auction clearance rates across Melbourne were regularly in the 70s percentage-wise. This year they are in the 50s – so it is fair to conclude that this year fewer buyers and sellers agree on price and therefore the market is regarded as weaker than 2010.

But while some journalists and publications are arguing that the ‘true’ clearance rate may in fact be lower because agents do not report every unsold auction, some agents  are arguing that the emphasis on a Melbourne-wide clearance rate is also misleading.

Jack Bongiorno from Marshall White, for instance, argues that while papers like The Age are reporting clearance rates in the 50s, his company has seen clearance rates in the 70s throughout May and June . Andrew James of Hocking Stuart Armadale agrees, saying his office is also seeing clearance rates in the 70s all year.

So The Age is saying one thing and agents another. Well there’s nothing new there.

Who is right and who is wrong – and does it really matter?

Well,  they are both right. And as for whether it really matters, the answer is yes – and no. Is that a splinter I can feel in my bottom from sitting on the fence? Well no, in fact this goes to the crux of what clearance rates can and cannot tell buyers.

According to Andrew McCann of BenMac, clearance rates measure across a very broad number of suburbs, price bands and demographics. “The reality is,” he says, “that some parts of the market will always perform better than others so it is not unrealistic to think that while some areas are soft, others are strong. A good case in point is that our firm sold 11 from 12 Auctions last weekend, while the market returned 56%.”

Scott Patterson of Kay and Burton supports this: “The clearance rate in The Age of 59% is a general rate for the whole of Melbourne and does not reflect what is going on in certain areas.”  Hawthorn for instance has had a clearance rate of 80% for the year so far, which seems a different picture from the outskirts of Melbourne.”

This makes it important for buyers to take Melbourne-wide clearance rates with a grain of salt.

Brad Pearce of Miles in Ivanhoe says that as a buyer you need to be area-specific on clearance rates to ensure you are in line with your market. “Buyers can become too confident with the lower Melbourne wide clearance rates and miss opportunities to buy in their area, where in fact properties are still selling well.”

Hawthorn and Kew, for instance, are currently shining with clearance rates in the 70s and 80s, according to Richard Winneke of Jellis Craig. But next door, Camberwell, Canterbury and Balwyn North have had clearance rates in the 50s so far this year, he points out.

Clearance Rates are wonderful things for analysts and journalists, says Steve Abbott of Jellis Craig, “but they are only part of the story for buyers and sellers.” Kay & Burton’s Michael Gibson reminds us too that clearance rates only represent a few hours within the selling week.

And according to BenMac’s Iain Carmichael: “Some weeks we have shockers and the next it’s a dream, so clearance rates are area specific, very cyclical and not always predictable.”

As a buyer, along with clearance rates, you also need to look at stats on areas, on specific agencies, on different types of homes, price ranges, stock level indicators, Bidderman (number of bidders per auction) and a variety of other measures.

Indeed, while $M+ Melbourne may be down on turnover this year, of the last 10 homes we as buyer agents went after in the last two weeks of May, all were sold quickly (and not all to us). So to our mind,  the late May 2011 “good home” index (describing the kinds of home we go after) had a clearance rate of 100%

The buyer message in terms of Melbourne-wide clearance rates is to understand what they represent and to not limit your research to the changing weekly auction headline number when determining your individual buying strategy.

Printed each week in The Weekly Review – Melbourne’s Million Dollar Plus Magazine

HAWTHORN, 4 Pine St: Jeremy Tyrrell (Fletchers) has reason to smile. Bought under the hammer, $1,980,000, 3 bidders

Solid weekend again, of the 8 properties we randomly selected, 75% sold.  

This is consistent with the Boroondara $1m+ market for the week (74%) – of the 42 properties reported, 28 sold at auction (or just after auction), 11 passed in and 3 sold either before auction or via private sale.

Some stand out results this weekend in Kew - particularly for developers and/or new home buyers looking for a prime building site.

18 Rockingham Street,  (Nick Walker) – Great position, dated house, a 685 square metre north rear block – sold for around the $2.2 million mark (Quote $1,600,000 to $1,700,000). That puts land value at around $3,200 per sqm

47 Walpole Street, (Mark Sproule) – Large land, flat block 1008 square metre – sold for $2.35 million.  Land therefore $2,330 per sqm.

On the other hand, vendors of new homes struggle to meet the market. 13 Kalang (Camberwell), 6 View (Canterbury) and 4 Mt. Ida (Hawthorn East) failed at auction and remain for sale – not sure that the auction system right now is the best suited sales strategy for these property types.

Strategies at auction continue to be entertaining. One auction party bid against themselves – possibly to get the property on the market or to use shock tactics to deter other bidders.

Most agents believe it is hard going right now, and think July will be bleak.

Biggest surprise was 6 View Street: In front of a good crowd and after the auction was almost finished, one bidder put their hand up and the property was passed in at $3.925 million. The house was good, but there have been few sales in this price region for this type of home. So why take it to auction? Still if it works then OK (it worked well at 21 MacCartney Kew) – we will need to wait and see what happens here.

HAWTHORN EAST, 56 St Helens Rd: Stop right there, and they did. Peter Batrouney (Jellis Craig) passes the property in for $1,520,000, no bidders. But sells after auction for $1,620,000

Are we in for some Super Saturdays at the end of this month?

Glen Coutinho, Hocking Stuart (Hawthorn): “Yes, some super Saturdays are coming. The Easter break had a lot of homes starting late, the first campaign date start was the end of April. So the end of May auction weeks will be big.”

A few smiles were found on Saturday and here was one of them. David Hart (Buxton) with friend at 48 Regent St, Brighton East. Passed in $1,275,000, 1 bidder

At 6pm on Saturday, the James Clearance Rate for $M+ properties in Melbourne was 55% on the 29 auctions we attended. We covered around half the $M+ auctions this weekend. May is looking very lean for auctions and today was almost a non event auction wise

The Weekly Review Bidderman, our demand indicator, was 1.2 bidders per auction. Considering the low numbers on offer at auction this was not a good sign for sellers going forward.

The Perils of Emotional Bidding
The big auction issue for me this weekend was how bidders were bidding. I went to three auctions with a total of  nine bidders and saw some very surprising and costly bidding.

One example was the auction at 48 Emo Road, Malvern East. This is a lovely little single fronted in one of my favourite family and investment areas, the Ardrie Park precinct in Malvern East. Middle of the road quality, not bad for those just starting out in the home ownership stakes – plenty of space inside and outside and good flow. Good feel.

Anyway the auction is about to start and a nice healthy crowd of around 100 has gathered to hear the pearls from a not-so-old stager who rarely auctions these days – Peter Bennison.

Peter calls for an opening bid, to which one very enthusiastic bidder responds with a strong and emotional bid of $950,000. With repeated calls for further $10,000 rises unsuccessful, Peter takes a strategic half time break. On returning, he unsurprisingly declares that the property will be passed-in to the lone bidder if no further bidding. After a second bidder pipes in offering that elusive $10,000 rise, the original bidder responds emotionally and strongly with a crowd hushing $1,000,000. Perhaps the bidder should have asked the “Is it on the market?” question – because this was well above the original quote of $890,000 to $950,000.

What it also means is that the auction will now be completed behind closed doors with some argy bargy instead of cleanly in the street and under the hammer, which a good question could have allowed. The final result of $1,150,000 is decided inside a few minutes later. Wow! I know the buyer saved the fee of getting professional help and normally I am against such flexible post auction reserves but really if a  buyer wants to pay then they should be allowed to – it’s a free country. For the very experienced Mr Bennison this bidder was a gift, and he knew exactly how to work this  situation to the benefit of his client, the vendor (low quality agents may not have recognized the opportunity presented).

There are a couple of things that come from this as lessons to first home buyers and DIYers:

1) As a bidder, by all means look strong to ward off other nervous buyers. But it doesn’t help to look emotional – an experienced agent will pick up on that and it will cost you money

2) In this market you have to test every step of the way. Ask questions. There was nothing wrong with the opening bid but the winning bidder’s second bid could and in fact should have been presented in a very different way. Because it wasn’t, the post auction problems snowballed from this one decision.

3) In this market, on a $890,000 to $950,000 quote, and with no proven competition above $960,000 why would you be rushing up the pole to an incredible $1,150,000? If you have to pay it then at least take a few hours of testing to get there.

There’s no doubt that it’s a good home and I certainly would have recommended buying it. And maybe the result would have been no different if a professional was managing the buying side. But I think a number of safety procedures could have been implemented prior to agreeing to that amount.

There were further interesting results along these lines at the auctions at 13 Maskell St Brighton (Peter Kennett) and 7 McClaughlin Sandringham (Mark Earle). Please see today’s auction reports for more details.

Now back to the market – Future Stock:

Auctions – May is going to be very quiet compared to May 2010, when we witnessed well in excess of 1000 $M+ sales across Melbourne. Melbourne’s Inner East and Bayside represent a majority of  Melbourne’s Million Dollar Plus sales, and predicted auction numbers in these areas for the four weeks in May are as follows: this past weekend 45, next week 43, and the last two weeks in May, 105 and 106. Even though there were five Saturdays in May 2010, there would need to be an incredible number of private sales this year to get the final numbers of solds anywhere near last year, and that is not likely to happen with the current market mood.

Off Markets – According to agents there is a strong trend towards private and off-market sales. Nick Johnstone, of JP Dixon (Brighton) says: “We are seeing a definite swing towards private and off market sales which shows a transitional phase in the market.” 

Other agent comments:

David Oster, Jellis Craig (Ivanhoe): “The 28^th May will be a Strong Saturday. It is the last clear Saturday before School holidays.”

Richard Winneke, Jellis Craig (Hawthorn): “May 21, May 28 & June 4 are 3 bigger Saturdays and then many owners will hold off selling until August.”

Melbourne Wide April Wash Up :
Volume -  Has a lot changed in Million Dollar Melbourne between April 2010 and April 2011? Well, yes and no. April 2010 had around the same number of REIV reported $1m+ sales (there may be a 10% variance with the chance of late reported April 2011 sales to bring the April 2010 and April 2011 numbers closer together) but on a count of over 500 buy/sells, not much has changed in terms of volume.

However, even though the last market turned in April 2010, May 2010 was a boom month with well over 1000 REIV reported $m+ sales throughout greater Melbourne. Therefore May 2011 will be watched to see if it can get anywhere near those sorts of numbers, however we don’t think that will happen. We are still seeing a $M+ home bought every ninety (90) minutes somewhere in Melbourne and that was with Easter taking up a fair bit of the month.

Let’s look at a couple of suburbs which we randomly selected to give a spread of Greater Melbourne $M+ reported sales for the month of April 2011 compared to April 2010.

Price – In our opinion, backed up by REIV Median price results, we feel prices are definitely flat or falling and have been for the most part of this year and a lot of last year. When we say flat or falling we don’t mean plummeting – we mean a drop by as much as 10% over the last 12 months. However we are still seeing plenty of instances of the old property truism: If it is well located and has some WOW and the right price to attract multiple bidders then it is still possible for the ultimate buyer to be paying more than you would have expected last year.

Winter is upon us and buyers and sellers alike appear in a less enthusiastic mood than even a few weeks ago. Even so, we have bought more $1M+ homes this year to date than this time last year at the same time.  And why wouldn’t you buy now, unless you know something we don’t? Price and choices have been considerably better than last year.

$3M+ Market Report:
Back from a week or two off, this market now, has a fairly clear run till Christmas, with a only brief breaks for a couple of holiday weekends.

A couple of strong results today:

• Elwood 18 Normanby (Paul Sutherland) – Bought for $3,375,000, 4 bidders – see our video auction
• Camberwell 26 Alma (Alastair Craig) – Bought After – $Over $3,000,000 at asking – no bidders – there is that strange bidding thing again

Over the next four to six weeks we should see more choice and some reasonable activity (although not expected anywhere near the levels of last year), as the May market is a traditional agent preferred selling time. Why? Well there is a good stretch of time until Queens Birthday weekend to run an uninterrupted campaign. Stock Quality is the unknown.

Come July things will be relatively quiet as there is a general sellers’ feeling (rightly or wrongly) that good homes do not look their best at this time of the year and accordingly a number of high end selling agents take winter holidays in Europe and therefore do not program campaigns to be run in their absence.

In the post Easter week or so there have been ten or more high end sales including the representative  half dozen below

• 15 St Ninians in Brighton for between $8m and $9m – perhaps not a lot more than what is was sold for less than 2 years ago (need to look up sale time to be absolutely sure of date) – Justin Follett of Kay and Burton
• 255 New Brighton for between $5.5m and $6m – Regina Schmidt and Brian Devlin of Buxton
• 50 Hotham St East Melbourne which had been on the market for at least 6 months for $7million – Paul Richards of Hocking Stuart – on the market for a fair bit of last year and also a failed auction. Nonetheless a reasonable price – not everything the sellers wanted – but more than had been offered at times in the past by buyers. A good result for both parties.
• 150 Clarendon East Melbourne – the Salta apartments saw Anton Wongtrakun deliver another big sale at $5,200,000 for Unit No 4
• Out to the paddocks of Lower Plenty with a Marketnews favourite Rocco Montanaro of Morrison Kleemand who achieved close to $3m on an Expressions of Interest Campaign for a good home on 7 acres at 75 Cleveland.
• And we round up our selection of high end Easter Sales with a $6M+ sale at Mount Eliza 15 Freemans Road – Michelle Skoglund of Aqua

In summary over Easter the market at this level has not been dead, but definitely subdued – there is increasingly a dampening mood in terms of both buyer and seller confidence. Time will tell if this is a short or longer term phenomenon. Price will play a important part going forward as we seemingly move into more uncertain market conditions – i.e. ones that are not as clear as they have been in the past 2 years since we awoke from the GFC. Overall the market now and in fact all of 2011 has not been strong at the $3m+ level – but there are still enough transactions (especially in Bayside) of sufficient value to avoid holding a wake just yet.

With winter approaching and a fair amount of stock available we think it is a buyers’ market and the future is best described as – “uncertain times”.

Finishing on a positive note our James Investment Division has seen some solid interest with investors coming back into the market (rentals are improving) and one current flavor of the times is blocks of flats. Some examples of what we are talking about.

The Big Issue: Klarity Kris and Architect Adam discuss the big issue of the week – does this market, with prices currently dropping, have elevated risks for buyers ? See what the two have to say by clicking on the live action.

Auction Video: This week Cafe Guy heads to Elwood on what was a big auction day for the Port Phillip area. Watch  the auction video of  18 Normandy Rd (Sutherland Farrelly) by clicking on the live action.

Buyer Masterclass: Double-fronter or two storey, single-fronted cottage? Architect Adam explores this dilemma in this week’s Buyer Masterclass. It’s a great article check it out!

We Only Buy Homes and Happy Mothers Day Mum and in fact to all Mums – we love you all!

“No way mate - this market is fighting back– taking no prisoners today (April 9th).” John Bongiorno. Malvern 54 Stanhope. Bought $3,170,000. 3 bidders.

Week Ending 30th April: Back from a week or two off, this market now, has a fairly clear run till Christmas, with a only brief breaks for a couple of holiday weekends.

Over the next four to six weeks we should see more choice and some reasonable activity (although not expected anywhere near the levels of last year), as the May market is a traditional agent preferred selling time. Why? Well there is a good stretch of time until Queens Birthday weekend to run an uninterrupted campaign. Stock Quality is the unknown.

Come July things will be relatively quiet as there is a general sellers’ feeling (rightly or wrongly) that good homes do not look their best at this time of the year and accordingly a number of high end selling agents take winter holidays in Europe and therefore do not program campaigns to be run in their absence.

In the post Easter week or so there have been ten or more high end sales including the representative  half dozen below

• 15 St Ninians in Brighton for between $8m and $9m – perhaps not a lot more than what is was sold for less than 2 years ago (need to look up sale time to be absolutely sure of date) – Justin Follett of Kay and Burton
• 255 New Brighton for between $5.5m and $6m – Regina Schmidt and Brian Devlin of Buxton
• 50 Hotham St East Melbourne which had been on the market for at least 6 months for $7million – Paul Richards of Hocking Stuart – on the market for a fair bit of last year and also a failed auction. Nonetheless a reasonable price – not everything the sellers wanted – but more than had been offered at times in the past by buyers. A good result for both parties.
• 150 Clarendon East Melbourne – the Salta apartments saw Anton Wongtrakun deliver another big sale at $5,200,000 for Unit No 4
• Out to the paddocks of Lower Plenty with a Marketnews favourite Rocco Montanaro of Morrison Kleemand who achieved close to $3m on an Expressions of Interest Campaign for a good home on 7 acres at 75 Cleveland.
• And we round up our selection of high end Easter Sales with a $6M+ sale at Mount Eliza 15 Freemans Road – Michelle Skoglund of Aqua

In summary over Easter the market at this level has not been dead, but definitely subdued – there is increasingly a dampening mood in terms of both buyer and seller confidence. Time will tell if this is a short or longer term phenomenon. Price will play a important part going forward as we seemingly move into more uncertain market conditions – i.e. ones that are not as clear as they have been in the past 2 years since we awoke from the GFC. Overall the market now and in fact all of 2011 has not been strong at the $3m+ level – but there are still enough transactions (especially in Bayside) of sufficient value to avoid holding a wake just yet.

With winter approaching and a fair amount of stock available we think it is a buyers’ market and the future is best described as – “uncertain times”.

Finishing on a positive note our James Investment Division has seen some solid interest with investors coming back into the market (rentals are improving) and one current flavor of the times is blocks of flats. Some examples of what we are talking about.

Finishing on a positive note our Investment Division has seen some solid interest with investors coming back into the market (improving rentals as well) and one current flavor of the times is blocks of flats. Some examples of what we are talking about.

Week Ending 16th April:The $3m action this week was away from auctions.

The drought in the Balwyn Formula – big price, small land, new home – was broken again with Maurice Di Marzio getting 59 Hosken Street, Balwyn North away in the high $3 millions. That’s the third in a week on the back of the two biggies reported last weekend.

Canterbury, 11 Chaucer Close, with Boroondara doyen Peter Mitchell of Marshall White, got the same sort of high $3 millions price.

Hawthorn, Harcourt St, was a hot place to be this week with Nick Ptak getting 79a away for just under $3.4 million (we think) and one of the results of recent times. Peter Vigano of Jellis Craig  got $3.625 million for 42 (we did not see that price coming)

Speaking of good results, Marcus Chiminello got a price in the high $3 millions for 2/264 Walsh St, South Yarra. It’s not our job to talk agents up but in a slow apartment market Marcus has got a number of solid results.

St Kilda West, 10 Loch St, with John Holdsworth sold for $3,650,000.

Andrew McMillan from Benmac got 367 Beaconsfield St, Kilda West away in the $4m to $5m range after a very lengthy campaign (probably due to previous asking prices).

At Auction today 68 Hopetoun Rd,  Toorak with Jellis Craig’s Steve Abbott, sold afterwards for $3.05 million. That was up a few hundred thousand dollars on the last time it sold around a year ago.

Week Ending 9th April: The strongest week this year for the $3m+ Top End market:

South Yarra 43 Marne St: Nicole Gleeson of Kay and Burton: Well over the $12,000,000 quote range making Domain Precinct land values at $8,000 per sqm for the bigger blocks.

Hawthorn 51 Berkeley St with Tim Blackett also of Kay and Burton: North of $7,000,000 on Scotch Hill for a good home that needs some reworking and a tennis court.

While still in Hawthorn Mr Nice Guy and Very Effective Tim Picken of Jellis Craig got away the quinella with 25 Mary St (Modern in Grace Park) being bought for a credible $4,300,000 and 1 Hilda (period in Grace Park) for $2,800,000. Both a little down on ambitious asks but nonetheless solid prices for what they were.

But wait there’s more and was it us who cried out the death of the Balwyn formula- new build, small block, overpriced. Well on a technicality were are still credible as it’s neighbouring Kew; but with 21 Macartney (Walter Dodich of Marshall White) and 5 Mawson (Peter Dixon of Jellis Craig) both selling at auction today for $4 million’ish, the death of this market maybe a little exaggerated. However please it is only two sales, but they were biggies.

The news doesn’t stop for sellers there with period home successes at 50 Wattle Valley Canterbury (Duane Wolowiec and James Tostevin) selling under the hammer for a strong $3,465,000; 54 Stanhope Malvern with Rae Tomlinson also under the hammer for $3,170,000 and 13 Rubens Grove Canterbury with Fletcher’s Jeremy Desmier bought before for over $3,000,000.

Bayside has recorded a few strong sales as well with 29 Bay Street Brighton (Bert Stewart of Buxton) selling post auction over $3,550,000 and the final result put north facing (no view) Golden Mile land over $3,200 per sq metre. That is a steady as she goes price similar to last year Golden mile (no view) buys. And another $3m+ sale with a strange twist (all non bidders asked to leave) at 40 Drake Brighton (Ian Jackson).

While on land sales 1073 Malvern Road Toorak (Justin Long) passed in at $3,225,000 and a reserve was offered – not taken up – two new bidders appeared and a second auction took place resulting in a sale well over the pass in figure.

Why all this activity? Pass-ins are still languishing in large numbers without much interest. However its all about quality and new stock and buyer confidence. All three things happened this week -

1. buyers felt better in themselves (confidence);
2. buyers felt this week had some real quality offerings (quality)
3. and buyers couldn’t see a lot of stock coming one (limited new stock)

Post Easter is no Buyer lay down misere after today’s results.