Auction Markets Strain Under Lockdown
High numbers of withdrawals saw the clearance rate dip at the weekend.
2 min
While Auction numbers remain high – with 1944 listings reported on Saturday, July 24 – the national clearance rate suffered due to COVID-related lockdowns falling to 77.3% when compared to the previous weekend’s 80.5%, the lowest results of the year.
Clearance rates were lower in all capitals on Saturday – with Sydney and Melbourne experiencing a high volume of withdrawals – with the exception of Canberra.
In Sydney, auction numbers were sharply low – due to the COVID lockdown.
A total of 566 homes were reported as auctioned on Saturday which was well below the 872 July record set last weekend – the lowest reported on a non-holiday weekend since February 13 this year.
The clearance rate was also lower, falling to a year low 75.1% compared to the previous weekend’s 78.0%. However, it remained higher than the 70.4% recorded over the same weekend last year.
A total of 24% of reported auctions were withdrawn.
The NSW capital recorded a median price of $1,532,500 for houses sold at auction at the weekend which was lower than the $1,603,000 reported over the previous Saturday but 17.7% higher than the $1,302,500 recorded over the same weekend last year.
In turn, Melbourne’s auction market held the line on Saturday, producing relatively strong results.
The Victorian capital recorded a robust 73.0% clearance rate at the weekend – close to the previous weekend’s 73.2% but well ahead of the 47.7% recorded over the same weekend last year.
The clearance rate was again impacted by 30.6% of auctions withdrawn.
A total of 1120 homes were listed to go under the hammer on Saturday, ahead of last weekend’s previous record 1061 auctions and significantly higher than the 527 auctions over the same weekend last year.
Melbourne recorded a median price of $938,000 for houses sold at auction at the weekend which was lower than the $992,500 recorded over the previous weekend but 9.4% higher than the $857,000 recorded over the same weekend last year.
Data powered by Dr Andrew Wilson, My Housing Market.
Chris Dixon, a partner who led the charge, says he has a ‘very long-term horizon’
Americans now think they need at least $1.25 million for retirement, a 20% increase from a year ago, according to a survey by Northwestern Mutual
A new digital real estate site promises a full view of the housing sector, even those places not on the market
2 min
Hot on the heels of the launch of View Media Group last year, Australia’s newest proptech digital media company has gone live with its consumer-facing real estate site, view.com.au.
The new site offers a ‘freemium’ model allowing vendors to list their properties for free while having the option of further upgrades for agents looking to enhance their listings.
VGM executive chairman Anthony Catalano said the model was a ‘game changer’ in the digital real estate space.
“While VMG is much more than a portal play, it’s critical that we have a consumer-facing brand that will act as the front door to attract consumers and in turn allow us to offer products and services in a range of verticals across the property ecosystem,” Mr Catalano said. “Our plan is to create a digital real estate superstore under the new View brand that will play in the $300 billion adjacency categories rather than solely focus on the $1
billion of digital property advertising.”
“We’ve listened to the industry and the time is right for an offer to come to market with an alternative model that addresses the real estate industry’s concern at the continually
escalating price of advertising.”
The View portal is available through app stores and will include properties across the country, not just those on the market right now.
“That means view.com.au will showcase more than 11 million properties in Australia compared to some of the portals which feature around 140,000 properties for sale,” Mr Catalano said. “From Day 1 we will provide consumers with a complete view of the market.’’
View has worked with mapping partner Nearmap to create the ability to have a comprehensive overview of all properties.
“We’ve had a look globally at best practice search for property and we’ve consumer tested a range of options and without doubt the preferred experience is map-based search,” View CEO Toby Blazs said. “So unlike others in the market who default consumers to a list view, we’ll default our search results via a map.”
Mr Catalano said the innovative site was designed to be a true disruptor in the proptech sector.
“VMG continues to grow and tick off the key parts of its strategic plan,” he said. “We are well on the way to forming a global-first conglomerate of proptech assets including portals, ad tech, lead generation, lead management solutions, media planning and buying, AI services, data and connections all under the one roof.”
Chris Dixon, a partner who led the charge, says he has a ‘very long-term horizon’
Americans now think they need at least $1.25 million for retirement, a 20% increase from a year ago, according to a survey by Northwestern Mutual
