Major Capitals Survive Super Saturday
The pre-Easter auction rush didn’t dampen clearance rates.
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The pre-Easter super Saturday of auctions has provided sellers with generally positive results this year, despite a deluge of listings.
The national auction market reported a clearance rate of 76.0% at the weekend — similar to the previous weekend’s 74.9% yet lower than the 86.2% recorded over the same weekend last year.
National auction numbers week higher at the weekend reflecting — as expected due to the pre-Easter holiday surge — with 3157 reported compared to the previous weekend’s 2551 and the 1909 reported over the same weekend last year.
Despite the market passing the most difficult test of the year so far, Economist Dr Andrew Wilson expects things to slow down.
“Markets will be relatively subdued over the remainder of April due to lengthy holiday distractions and the possibility of the commencement of a lengthy federal election campaign,” said Dr Wilson in his latest auction report.
Sydney reported a clearance rate of 69.4% at the weekend — almost the same as the previous weekend’s 69.7% but well below the 82.4% recorded over the same weekend last year.
The weekend saw a year-to-date high of 1214 auctions — well ahead of the previous weekend’s 958 and the previous year’s 765 auctions recorded.
The NSW capital recorded a median price of $1,815,000 for houses sold at auction at the weekend — higher than the $1,800,000 reported over the previous weekend and the same weekend last year’s $1,550,000.
The Melbourne market survived one of the biggest auction days of the year, reporting a clearance rate of 69.8% on Saturday — just below the previous weekend’s 71.7% and lower than the 79.1% recorded over the same weekend last year.
The Victorian capital saw 1505 homes reported for auction over the weekend — significantly above the previous weekend’s 1259 and the 785 listed over the same weekend last year.
Melbourne recorded a median price of $1,105,500 for houses sold at auction at the weekend which was lower than last weekend’s $1,134,000 – but 16.9% % higher than the $945,750 reported over the same weekend last year.
Data powered by Dr Andrew Wilson, My Housing Market.
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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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