Auction Markets Steady
Figures remain stable despite post-election surge in listings.
2 min
Auction clearance rates were steady on Saturday despite a forecasted surge in post-election weekend listings.
The national auction market reported a clearance rate of 67.3% at the weekend — lower than the 71.4% reported last weekend and also lower than the 82.2% recorded over the same weekend last year. This weekend’s national figure was the lowest of the year so far.
National auction numbers were higher at the weekend, following last weekend’s election day distractions. A total of 2707 homes were reported listed compared to the previous weekend’s 1137 — higher than the same weekend last year’s 2505 auctions.
Sydney’s market is stable, albeit down on last year’s figures, recording a clearance rate of 66.9% at the weekend — below the 68.9% of last weekend but lower than the 82.2% of the same weekend last year.
A total of 1013 homes were listed for auction in the NSW capital at the weekend — predictably higher than the 335 auctioned last weekend and higher than the 981 of same weekend last year.
Sydney recorded a median price of $1,720,000 for houses sold at auction at the weekend which was well ahead of the $1,600,000 recorded last weekend and 7.2% higher than the same weekend last year’s $1,605,000.
Melbourne’s market saw a small upward shift despite the surge in auction numbers.
The Victorian capital reported a clearance rate of 68.1% on Saturday — higher than the year-low of 63.8% recorded over the previous weekend but lower than the 76.5% recorded over the same weekend last year.
A total of 1320 homes were listed in Melbourne at the weekend — higher than the 594 reported over the previous weekend and higher than the 1272 listed over the same weekend last year.
Melbourne recorded a median price of $1,150,000 for houses sold at auction at the weekend which was higher than the $1,030,000 reported last weekend and 16.5% higher than the $987,500 recorded over the same weekend last year.
Data powered by Dr Andrew Wilson, My Housing Market.
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The 25-room mansion was built for an heiress and later belonged to a socialite and architect on the Empire State Building.
2 min
A 110-year-old Colorado estate that has hosted Frank Sinatra and Lyndon B. Johnson just slashed $10 million off its price tag.
The 12,000-square-foot manor house—with 25 rooms—and its five accessory dwelling in the alpines of Evergreen was relisted on Friday asking $16.8 million, down from its initial $26.8 million price in 2023.
The sellers, Richard and Pamela Bard, who paid $1.3 million for the “legacy property” named Greystone Estate in 1992, have shopped it around on and off for the past 20 years, according to agent Jessica Northrop at Compass Real Estate.
Richard Bard, CEO of his own private equity firm, has “hosted many corporate events and retreats where important business is discussed but they are also able to relax,” Northrop said. “Greystone has a special way of making people feel at ease.”
Bard said “it’s not a casual effort” to sell. He said it’s difficult to find a buyer with the facilities to “take care of it.”
The Bards intend to move closer to their children in Denver.
Before the Bards, Greystone Estate had several eras—as a summer house, a guest ranch and a business base—since it was built in 1915 by Genevieve Phipps, an industrialist’s daughter.
Phipps, who spent her inheritance on the land, built the 54-acre summer escape with the “elegance and feel of a fine Adirondack mansion combined with a mountain rustic style,” according to an online record of the estate’s history.
Its heyday, arguably in the 1940s to 1980s, saw Sinatra, Johnson and Groucho Marx come through its doors, when its owner William Sandifer, a socialite and one the Empire State Building’s architects, operated a guest ranch out of the place.
The Bards, who used a carriage house on the property as their company headquarters, completed Greystone’s full modernization in 1997. They also opened up the living and dining areas to receive more light, raised the ceiling on the upper level and combined several rooms to create a primary suite.
They replaced an outdoor pavilion and its helipad with something more suitable for their daughter’s wedding in 2001, according to Northrop.
The main 25-room manor includes a wine cellar, bar, gym and library.
The additional structures, which include a cottage, a log cabin, a pool house, a carriage house and a pavilion and guest house, surround the pool area and overlook acres of aspen groves and mountains.
Architect Mark Rios and his husband, Dr. Guy Ringler, spent 18 months renovating the house, which was originally designed by John Elgin Woolf.
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