National Auction Markets Easing
While results remain strong, clearance rates are trending lower.
2 min
With a surge of sellers keen to take advantage of strong buyer competition, the home auction markets reported lower clearance rates and clear signs that the white-hot market is beginning to cool.
A total of 2401 homes were reported as listed for auction on Saturday, May 15, which, although lower than last weekend’s May record 2563 listings, provided plenty of choices for buyers.
The national average weekend clearance rate was down on Saturday, falling from 83.1% to 80.9% – the lowest result since the 77.7% recorded on January 30.
This is the fourth consecutive weekend that clearance rates have fallen and is well below the peak national average of 88.5%, recorded on March 5.
Sydney hosted another incredibly busy weekend of auctions, with 9990 Sydney auctions reported on Saturday – just below the previous weekend’s May record 1014.
With a larger volume of auctions, the Sydney clearance rate fell to 82.9%, down on the previous weekend’s 83.5%, and the fourth consecutive weekend of falling rates.
Sydney recorded a median price of $1,641,000 for houses sold at auction at the weekend, just below the $1,650,000 reported over the previous Saturday, but 16.4% higher than the $1,410,000 recorded over the same weekend last year.
Melbourne again saw a surge in auction volumes, which pushed the clearance rate down to a year low reporting a clearance rate of 78.6%, well below the 80.7% recorded the previous weekend.
A total of 1149 homes were reported listed for auction in Melbourne on Saturday, just below the 1248 May record auction the previous weekend and well ahead of the 82 auctioned over the same weekend last year.
Melbourne reached a median price of $1,093,000 for houses sold at auction on the weekend, which was 4.1% higher than the $1,050,000 recorded over the previous weekend and up 8.9% on the 1,002,944 recorded over the same weekend last year.
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
