Christmas Rush Imminent As Auction Listings Double
More than 4000 properties are slated for auction this week.
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The balance between home buyers and sellers is set to dramatically shift this week as a record number of homes go to auction across the country.
The number of homes set to go under the hammer has surged to 4354 this week as Sydney, Adelaide and Canberra posted their largest auction volumes ever, according to CoreLogic.
Auction listings have jumped by 17% nationwide over the week and have doubled the number recorded this time last year, as vendors want to get deals done before the Christmas break.
It’s also the first-time auction listings across the combined capitals will exceed 4000, overtaking the previous high of 3990 during the week ending March 25, 2018.
Melbourne is set to lead the charge with 1898 homes – a 14.5% rise over the week, more than double the number of auctions this time last year.
Sydney, Adelaide, and Canberra are set to host their highest auction volumes on record with 1656, 308 and 183 homes scheduled to go under the hammer.
Auction volumes bottomed out nationally in September and have climbed around 10% each week for a total increase of more than 200%.
The high number of properties for sale has dampened buying competition and has resulted in a falling clearance rate.
Since its peak of 83.2% in October, the clearance rate has dropped to 70.3% this week – similar to last year’s figures.
Across Sydney, the clearance rate for the week dropped to 68.7% — its lowest level this year.
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The actress and her husband, comedy writer Dave McCary, spent more than three years restoring the house, which is one of the priciest properties for sale in the Texas city.
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In 2021, actress Emma Stone purchased a historic estate in Austin, Texas, with a plan to move her family there. Four years later, she has instead decided to put the property on the market.
The actress and her husband, comedy writer Dave McCary, are asking $26.5 million for the newly renovated estate, according to Eric Moreland of Moreland Properties/Forbes Global Properties, one of the listing agents. The 1.25-acre property, located in the upscale Tarrytown neighbourhood, will be among the most expensive on the market in Austin.
Stone and McCary have spent more than three years renovating and restoring the Texas property, Moreland said.
A spokesperson for Stone didn’t respond to requests for comment. Moreland said the couple’s New York business interests have expanded since they started the remodel, and while they hope to live in Austin eventually, it doesn’t make sense for now.
The couple, who are co-founders of the production company Fruit Tree, own a roughly $12 million apartment in lower Manhattan, according to property records. Stone is slated to star in the upcoming contemporary Western film “Eddington.”
It’s unclear what Stone and McCary paid for the Austin property, since Texas is a nondisclosure state . The Georgian-style brick house dates to around 1940, making it one of the oldest estates in the area.
The roughly 10,000-square-foot estate includes a main house with four bedrooms and a two-bedroom guesthouse. The property also has a pool, a hot tub, and a garage with a screening room and entertaining space above.
As part of the renovation, the couple removed, cleaned and reused all the exterior brick. They also reconfigured some of the living spaces, opening the kitchen to the living room for a more modern layout. It took more than a year just to install the millwork in the screening room, said Moreland.
The contractors are now putting the finishing touches on the property, he said.
The “La La Land” actress has a track record of buying and selling her homes for significantly more than she paid. In 2022, she sold her blufftop Malibu, Calif., home for $4.425 million after buying it for $3.25 million in 2018, according to property records.
Last year, she sold her home in L.A.’s Comstock Hills neighbourhood for $4.3 million, significantly more than the $2.3 million she paid in 2019.
Austin saw an influx of new residents during COVID, but many of those are now returning to the East and West coasts, particularly workers in the tech sector.
While the market “has come down to earth a little bit” since the pandemic-era boom, Moreland said, he has seen a number of $20 million-plus deals over the past few months.
Moreland has the listing with colleague Diane Humphreys.
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