Dec 15: And goodbye to all that …
By admin | December 15, 2008
The real estate industry has now turned out the lights and toddled off to bed; hoping and praying that the last six months were just a nightmare. Faint hope. Reality still looms like a wolf at the door.
What are we hearing?
“The banks have their feet on the throats of hundreds of clients whose affairs are out of order; if they’re not cleaned up, their houses will be on the market in the new year.”
And a happy Christmas to you, too.
But even if only half true, amid job losses, diminished bonuses, margin calls and profit downgrades, things look like being more than a mite interesting in the new year. There could well be new blood on the wall-to-wall come February and March.
In the meantime, expect not a lot in the holiday house market over the next six weeks. If you are a forced vendor, ’tis not the season to be jolly.
But vendor’s famine can be buyer’s feast; and there are those who are poised to take advantage of the new reality.
And there are also those who are not feeling any stress at all. In AAA land, more than you may suspect have no mortgages hanging over them.
So … what influences can you expect to come into play heading into the new year?
- Those who are not over-exposed or over-committed will help moderate the market by doing … nothing.
- There are still buyers who are actively or passively looking at the top end.
- There’s a wave of returning cashed-up ex-pats looking for quality housing and excellent schools.
- Exceptional AAA properties will always find buyers.
- Job losses and financial stress will continue to depress the top end.
- Lack-of-confidence is catching; and there’s a lot of it around.
But even among all the vendor gloom the sun still shone in brief patches over the weekend.
4 Deepdene Place, Balwyn (Balwyn!) Sold for $4,750,000 after an expression of interest campaign that had four parties in the queue. That’s a very strong result, east of Burke Road.
We were also surprised by the number of bidders at some auctions. We had hoped they would all be safely inside packing for the holidays, but despite weather that had penguins staying home by the fire warming their happy feet, the Scotts and Amudsens were out in droves, probably because waiting for the real estate world to wake again in March means not moving before mid year, and that’s too long for some.
While there are signs that many vendors are moving to meet the market, there are still properties that just won’t move.
5 Anderson Street, Malvern has been on the market so long that its For Sale sign is due for classification by the Heritage Commission. Again it failed at auction. Not even a cheeky bid; although sharks may be circling.
52 Millswyn Street, South Yarra An address many would die for died at auction after one lonely vendor bid. Issues, anyone?
Same can be said for 2 Devorgilla Avenue and 17a Clendon Road, Toorak. Problems, problems, problems.
So, as in the poetry of the film biz: flush the talent, kill the brutes, that’s a wrap.
See you next year. Hope your hols are safe and your year rewarding.
DM
Bayside: A lot of angst, a little cheer.
With the exception of one or two late auctions scheduled for next week, the Bayside auction scene for 2008 limped to a damp conclusion this weekend; lashings of rain being about the best thing auctioneers have seen for some time.
Over the next four to six weeks vendors who have yet to find buyers will be considering their limited options. Those thinking of going to market early in the new year will have to give hard thought to what prices they can realistically expect; and the virtues of private sales vs. auctions.
In the current market, as has been observed elsewhere, prices for properties up to and around $800,000 appear to have stabilised somewhat; at least they haven’t suffered the hard knocks experienced in the million plus band. Up to 12km from the CBD, lower interest rates, first home buyer grants, investors, mum and dad assistance and 30-something returning expats have all been instrumental. The better choices are even seeing more than one bidder.
If you’re looking at this level, we think there are opportunities that may not last beyond mid 2009.
And then there’s the middle and top end.
The forecast is pain, pain and more pain followed by stability and then the first signs of price growth. (That’s the easy part done. All we need now is the timing.)
What does seem sure is that stressed sellers at these levels will not be able to hold out for more than a month or two against some very insistent banks. The decks should be considerably clearer by mid-year, but in the meantime those who are not ” forced” sellers – people who are selling for all the traditional reasons such as wanting to leave houses that are too big or small, who have been transferred or divorced or any of a myriad other good reasons – are having the values of their properties shredded by neighbours who have made the wrong calls on the bourse and now have to take whatever they can get.
Silver-lining time: if you’re cashed up and looking for value between $1.3 and $4 million, depending on where you are looking, the first half of 2009 is the best it’s been in over a decade.
And there have been a few (very few) Brighton auctioneers with somewhat brighter faces following several results over the week.
5 Brandon Close, a gracious old Brighton dame on some 12,000 sq ft/1115 sq m, sold prior for $4 million to a buyer who will probably demolish and rebuild.
76 South Road is a new spec house on 650 sq m; reasonable buying at $1.85 million
10 Rooding Street is a recently and extensively renovated single level timber house on a modest 604 sq m. It sold immediately after auction at a very solid price in the vicinity of $1.45 million
Beaumaris saw 3 Pacific Boulevard sell for $1.25 million.
Close but no cigar at Black Rock: 14 Second Street passed in at $1.6 million. Later offer of $1.625 million and the vendor holding out for $1.68 million.
Hampton and Sandringham had a mixed day: equal numbers selling and being passed in.
We are seeing more and more sales being passed in and reported as undisclosed in Bayside; which is passing strange. Are the bids so embarrassingly low that auctioneers cannot bear to see them in print? And what’s in it for a vendor who, having spent serious money on a marketing campaign, cannot realise even the residual value of having a known price on a property that may attract (at last!) a buyer?
So farewell, 2008. If nothing else, you provided a memorable ride. In years to come, when real estate agents meet, you’ll be hearing “I was there in ‘08″. And the young-uns will fall respectfully silent.
Well, we live in hope. And here’s hoping your ‘09 is a good one.
DT
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Dec 8: A tale of three markets
By admin | December 8, 2008
The top end, AAA and and the rest.
There is, we hear (we don’t often visit), life in the sub-800k market while at the top end, above $1 million, we’re hearing nothing but auctioneers gasping for air.
Except.
Except AAA. The rare properties or positions which have it’s-now-or-never quality still have buyers competing hard. So far, they have been insulated from the general doom + gloom.
For example:
210 Walsh Street, South Yarra. It has a heap of issues including a Heritage overlay and is in need of a money pit for renovations, but it’s a sensational position and sold for a bullish $4,530,000. In the old money, that’s $621 a foot, plus renovation costs.
6 Cleeve Court, Toorak. Small block, irregular shape, but a pleasing cul-de-sac off Irving Road. By our reckoning it should have sold for around $2.1 million but a couple of people really had to have it and it went for $2,502,000 – $463.00 per foot. This time last year, Cleeve Court was selling at over $500/foot. Our view? The underbidders may have lost the battle but they should be glad they did.
6 Haverbrack Avenue, Malvern – arguably Malvern’s best street and probably the last big block of land available – had three bidders (we weren’t surprised) take it to $5.3 million: $270/foot. 12 months ago, it would have been priced at $300-320/foot; which adds up to another $1.2 million. No wonder there were bidders.
And here endeth the vendors’ good news.
For the rest of the top end, it was tough and will get tougher. The looming Christmas/New Year break means that those properties which aren’t wrapped up by this week are likely to still be under the tree well into next year; this while we’re hearing about increasing numbers of margin calls, so timing may be out of some vendors’ hands.
One near-death experience: 110 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn was scheduled for a mortgagee auction on Saturday morning but was rescued by a fast injection of funds at 4.00pm on Friday.
Armadale and Albert Park properties that previously would have attracted bids like flies to honey didn’t get a murmer.
In Malvern, in the middle of the supposedly recession-proof doctors belt, 15 Glendearg Grove was passed in. There is a bid of $2.6 million. Given what’s going on, they should grab it.
What is available in abundance is silence. Agents who don’t like the results they’re seeing are simply not reporting anything. Properties that went to auction and didn’t sell? Didn’t happen. Expressions of interest campaigns that ran their course with no result? Ditto.
Then why are things rosier below $800,000? The government stimulus packages have greater effect there, but there’s also the realisation that, if not buying pre-Christmas, moving day probably can’t be until the middle of next year. For many, that adds up to a deal of rent.
But, still, it could be worse.
DM
Bayside bounce?
After weeks of results ranging all the way from from awful to abysmal, the Bayside market has staged something of a recovery over the past week. Auction clearance rates in Brighton, Hampton/Sandringham and Bentleigh were well up on previous numbers. Only Beaumaris/Black Rock let the side down.
Brighton cleared 11 properties from 22 offered: 1 Lynch Street sold for $1.36 million, 1 St James Mews for $1.38 million.
8/18 North Road (sorry, no link available) sold prior, for $1.525 million while there was a lot of not very much at 295 St Kilda Street: a vendor bid of $1.65 million and then passed in with a reserve of $1.7 million. On 985 sq m with a good period home on the edge of the Golden Mile, this seems to offer exceptional main road value.
An extensively renovated 1960’s era home was offered in the Orphanage Estate at 62 Lynch Crescent. The highest bid was the vendor’s: $1.9 million. The reserve is $2.2 million. On only 596 sq m, $2.2 million seems a tad ambitious.
32 Dawson Avenue, in the Golden Mile and with limited water views, was passed in on Saturday on a vendor bid of $5 million. It has since been reported as sold for, we believe, around $5.2 million. Brave move, putting a property in this price range to auction, but bravery rewarded.
While Brighton had a much better weekend, Brighton East failed to clear a single property priced at over one million dollars; the five offered were all passed in on vendor bids.
In Hampton, 17 Grenville Street sold during the week for $1.705 million after being passed in the week before at $1.65 million. All was near-silent at a fully renovated period house at 45 Thomas Street: only a vendor bid of $1.52 million to be heard and a vendor hoping to hear $1.6 million.
Bentleigh and district again performed relatively well: 9 sales from 16 offered.
The price point in this area is generally well under the million dollar mark, hence the reasonable sales and clearance rates over the past few months. To illustrate the point, the two $1 million+ properties offered were both passed in. 19 Rose Street has a reserve of $2.2 million, a mere $450,000 above the pass in figure of $1.75 million. Hope springs eternal?
With only one week of auctions before the end of the silly season, there’s a great deal of opportunity awaiting buyers who are looking for value in the volume of unsold property. The savvy will stay in the market (and, yes, we are seeing more of them).
DT
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Dec 1: What’s 12 months between friends?
By admin | December 1, 2008
Thank you for asking. Night and day.
- A share market which was heading for 7,000 and nothing but blue sky (even if some were hearing stall warning bells) is now close half that with prospects of gloom, gloom, gloom
- Pre-Christmas property sales driven by the need to scale back rather than the desire to trade up.
- Desperate sellers rather than desperate buyers
- Agents (the more successful agents) moving their Christmas parties from the most outrageous, most expensive function they could imagine to praying it won’t rain on the barbeque
- BMWs being struck off gift lists.
But agents, as always, are still whistling a happy tune even as the Titanic settles below the waves:
- Finding positives in auctions without bids
- Able to see into next year when things will return to “normal” (many still don’t get it – last year’s normal wasn’t normal)
- Suggesting the buying is great, it’s the buyers who are failing the market.
And Canute held back the tide (first rule of marketing: don’t argue with the market).
Yes, there are transactions – we are buying properties – but they are very much on buyers’ terms; with only an odd exception when a 10 out of 10 property comes up that even in this market a dozen people want to own.
What is really out of the ordinary is that, even with the end of multiple bidders and no more over-the-top prices being paid, pre-Christmas stock levels are now greater than we have seen for many a year. This has to be a case of the have-to’s. Vendors who have to because they need money to cover share market losses, agents who have to persuade them to go to market when there’s a less than 50% chance of success because otherwise their sales budgets, and maybe jobs, will disappear.
Out in the hustings over the weekend?
Not many Sold signs. Where there were sales, in the majority of cases properties were passed in and sold later; and those who couldn’t bridge the gap between seller and buyer may well see those gaps growing wider with time.
2 Eden Court, Toorak, a large land holding in a quiet court saw an opening bid of $3.8 million and the vendor countering the bid at $4.8 million and then … silence.
This is the new black in auctions. It’s happening too often at the top end and is another demonstration that not all houses should be auctioned.
And as soon as we make that a rule, along comes the exception: 1 Grong Grong Court. Few redeeming features and not a house we’d recommend, but it sold for $3,050,000
29 Shakespeare Grove, Hawthorn offered a demonstration of a different kind. A two-storey Victorian in need of a bit of work, it sold the night before auction for $4.1 million. An agent with his wits about him established that there was only one real buyer and he didn’t want to be left standing trying to push that person up against a vendor bid.
506 Orrong Road, Armadale. 14 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, 1 tennis court, 3,500 sq metres, hopes of $5 million and no bid. The vendor? Our government (so not a distressed sale, we hope). The should-have-been buyer? The school across the road with its hands in its pockets.
Off-market, there is still a trickle of transactions; drying up now because Christmas is coming and there are still too few truly exceptional properties on offer. In those very rare cases, we still have buyers.
DM
Bayside. Is/isn’t, up/down. Etc.
We have been banging on for some months now about the legitimacy/illegitimacy of published weekly auction results and clearance rates.
The new official low is a clearance of 51% last weekend, but when the 88 “sold before” properties are taken out of the equation, the clearance rate of those properties actually put to the test under the hammer falls to 41%
And the numbers do not get any better for bruised and battered Bayside.
In short:
- Hampton and Sandringham: 2 sales from 13 offered (including one sold before) = 15% clearance
- Beaumaris/Black Rock: 2 sales from 8 offered (including one sold before) = 25% clearance
- Brighton and Brighton E: 7 sales from 24 offered (including one sold before) = 29% clearance
Not exactly inspiring. Now, with only three weeks to find a buyer before the end of year shutdown, there will be plenty of worried vendors dreading the Christmas post bringing $10,000+ advertising bills from equally worried agents.
You can put money on it that there will not be anywhere near the usual volume of auctions in the February/March period in 09
In spite of the carnage, there was a handful of sales worthy of comment.
90 Thomas Street, Hampton limped over the seven figure line with a sale price of $1,005,000
A 10 room timber house at 6 Retreat Road, Hampton was reported as sold prior at $1.8 million. It was originally scheduled for auction last weekend but in fact was snapped up in October just as the US financial crisis erupted. That vendor’s relief must be worth bottling.
16 Reserve Road, Beaumaris attracted an offer of $1,625,000 prior to auction and a sale ensued.
In Brighton, 15 Collington Avenue on 702 sq m/7555 sq ft sold for land value at $1,335,000. Only weeks ago we were saying that land in a reasonable Brighton location was down to $200/sq ft. After this result the benchmark is $177/sq ft. and “What’s it worth?” is the new imponderable.
180-182 The Esplanade is a pair of old brick maisonettes on about 840 sq m/9,000 sq ft, with rear access via Victoria Street. Their auction opened and closed on a vendor bid of $3.7 million. Post-auction two parties haggled and the property was sold within 30 minutes for a figure believed to be $3,550,000 – in our opinion right on the money.
8 Avonbury Court, on the corner of St Kilda Street, is a Robyn Boyd designed brick house on 654 sq m. It sold prior to auction for a figure believed to be $1,450,000.
A near-new contemporary styled townhouse at 1A Cosham Street changed hands for $1,750,000
A slightly older townhouse at 85 Well Street had a genuine $1.5 million opening bid which was trumped by a vendor bid of $1.6 million before being passed in on a further vendor bid of $1.65 million with a reserve of $1.75 million. When vendors are bidding against themselves, smokescreens have no limits.
And there was more no joy at a smaller townhouse at 52A Were Street. Vendor bid: $1.525 million. Reserve: $1.65 million.
Two top end homes remained unsold: a builder’s home at 24 Hanby Street passed in on a vendor bid of $2.9 million against a reserve of $3.25 million and, on Sunday, 11 Gould Street attracted a solitary genuine bid of $3.2 million – discussions are continuing.
With only two auction weekends before the end of the marketing season and a clutch of top end “expressions of interest” campaigns concluding soon, Bayside agents have never had to work harder to match their vendors’ often ambitious expectations to cannily gun-shy buyers.
For many, the Christmas break can’t come soon enough.
DT
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Nov 24. Yo, ho, ho, etc.
By admin | November 24, 2008
Famine to feast. The top end, at last, is being spoiled for choice; coinciding with very few buyers who are prepared to come to the table.
It’s now the classic recipe for a buyers’ market, but unless a property is have-to-have, why would you? It’s only going to get better: more choice and prices are (understatement warning) still trending down.
Last week, Christmas came early for buyers. Properties were discounted by as much as 25% below market value. In one case, a winning offer which was 30% below the Council site valuation. How do we know? Well…
And it can be ugly. A few agents have been prepared to sacrifice their vendors at the altar of their own cashflow needs. Not pretty.
Out in the streets was scary. Auctions which last year would have seen forests of raised hands couldn’t raise a yawn. No competition, followed by even less.
We also saw our first “Sydney style” auction: a property withdrawn from the market five minutes before the event. What was going on in the minds of the vendors and agents? Someone panicked?
The cold snap hit Albert Park first. With a gale roaring in off the Bay, three properties were put up that should have attracted interest, but nothing was heard over the screaming southerly and auctioneers’ cries for help (which was not forthcoming).
There were some contributing factors: 370 Park Street, South Melbourne, for instance, passed in on a vendor bid of $2 million but is leased until the middle of next year. Only the misguided or desperate would try to sell in a market that demands all the pluses and no problems.
40 Verdant Avenue, Toorak, a good property, saw a vendor bid of $2.8 million and hopes of over $3 million. If it eventually sells for less than the vendor bid, it will not be the first … or last.
12 Mercer Road, Armadale saw expressions of interest closing on Saturday. There was no Sold sign outside this morning. (Come to think of it: the big St Georges Road result of a few weeks ago is still without a Sold sticker. Is there a problem?)
As reported elsewhere, the sub-million market is in better shape.
What will turn the market back up? Not, in our view, interest rates. They could go to 1% (and probably will) and even that would still have little effect at the top end. What’s missing is confidence; and you can’t legislate intangibles. The market has to shake out, and be seen to shake out.
What’s the rush? If an $8-10 million property drops by another 10% between now and March, that adds up to a fair pile of Milky Bars.
But …
To paraphrase Ron Barassi: “When all else fails, go back to basics.” … which brings us back to our most basic advice: it’s not just the money.
It’s important that you focus on lifestyle as much as the deal. You may find the have-to-have house this year and, even though it may cost you more it, or one like it, may not still be around next year.
You’ll be living there. If it’s perfect, grab it.
DM
Bayside: Storms continue
Wet, cold and windy were Bayside’s weekend auctions: wet weather, cold bidding and windy auctioneers all contributing to another tough weekend in the trenches.
In spite of the inclement atomospherics, some joy was apparent in Bentleigh and Brighton East: 8 sales from 11 offered and 7 from 10.
Despite the much better clearance rate in Brighton East, the $1 million+ market continues to struggle at auction with only one result recorded at the seven figure level: 9 Garden Avenue, on 814sq m, achieving $1,235,000.
Beaumaris auctioneers also struggled to find bidders. Even the market up to $800,000 was at best mediocre: only two sales from the five in a normally reliable price range.
A rare multi-million dollar sale was negotiated at 408 Beach Road, Beaumaris. A 65 square home overlooking Rickett’s Point with Bay views sold for $2.65 million.
Hampton and Sandringham continue to be out of favour: two sales from the nine offered with one of those a sold-before.
The solitary auction sale on the day was at 34 Mills Street. Advertised as a “Realisation Auction” (meaning the vendor has finally realised they want/have/need to sell) with an expected price range of $1.6-1.75 million, the property had one bidder and was passed in at $1.575 million and sold later but no one is saying for how much. It was also auctioned on the 30th August with no bids and passed in on a vendor bid at $1.8 million with a reserve of $2.2 million. But what’s half a mill between friends?
Brighton (as in 3186) has had a mixed week. Its lack of auction action was well and truly offset by strong private sale activity.
15 Murphy Street was reported as sold on the day for $2.15 million when in fact it was sold last Monday (oh, OK, we know that because we bought it) and 2 Cosham Street was passed in on Saturday for $2.1 million with a later offer of $2.2 million and then sold on Saturday evening for $2.275 million
39 Park Street was passed in on a vendor bid of $1.54 million against a reserve of $1.62 million.
17 Lindsay Street was passed in. Its reserve is $1.12 million
On Sunday a large architect designed home with court and pool at 43 Kinane Street (the other end, not the beach end) passed in on the auctioneer’s bid of $3.3 million. Rumour has it that the vendor is waiting for over $4 million. Great patience may be a great virtue. And essential.
5 Wilson Street was sold before auction for what is a new low in $’s per sq m/sq ft. Essentially land value, the property was sold for $1.85 million. At 1012 sq m or 10890 sq ft, that equates to just under $170 per sq ft in the heart of Middle Brighton.
Better news for one busy agent: an off-market sale at 87 Wells Street, Brighton (classic Victorian on plenty of land selling for an undisclosed amount believed to be at least $5.5 million) and 19 Glyndon Avenue, Brighton on over 1300 sq m sold for just over $5 million.
The same agent finally sold 2a Glyndon Avenue, a two storey townhouse, for $2.3 million and as an afterthought also sold 29 Lawrence Street for $1,130,000.
Privately negotiated sales seem to be working well for this agent; possibly because he is working with sensible, realistic vendors who have accepted the new reality and simply want to get on with their lives.
DT
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Nov 17: Hurry up and … wait.
By admin | November 17, 2008
The world’s been watching re-runs of Hill Street Blues: “Let’s be careful out there.”
Capital preservation is the new mantra. We have been shouting that for months; and the weekend suggests we’re not alone.
However and but.
Just when you think you’ve got the market’s direction nailed down, some giddy optimist comes along at 180º.
A quiet sale on Shakespeare Grove, Hawthorn. Well-renovated Victorian on a postage-stamp block of land. We thought the vendor would be lucky to see $6.5 million. Ahem. $10.5 million bought it. In this market. Strewth.
And then there’s land in Armadale …
56 Adelaide Street, Armadale sold the night before auction for approximately $290 per foot. On Saturday afternoon, some who may have missed out in Adelaide Street went to war over 7 Erskine Street. Developer territory. Five bidders. Sold for $2,685,000 against a low $2 million expectation. Again around $290 per foot.
These against a background of the funeral for the auction system. Lots of people looking, no-one talking and definitely not a lot of bidding – bids as scarce as we have seen. Even auctioneers dropping vendor bids as much as 40% below reserves couldn’t raise a sign of life.
Plenty of people – many of them neighbours and window shoppers – all paying close attention to auctioneers sobbing their hearts out from here to the horizon (OK, benefit of the doubt, a few of them do have hearts, but before you rush for your sympathy cards, do remember that these were the people who were happy to take your hard-earned millions only last year).
It was like watching concrete set at some auctions we attended.
8 Kooyongkoot Road, Hawthorn actually got a bid (they got a bid!) of $2,050,000, but the owner wants $2.5 million plus; which is something of a chasm to cross before any deal is done.
Chasm? You want chasm? 4 Matthews Court, Toorak. Vendor bid $1.4 million. Reserve $2.1 million. Whoops.
Elsewhere the open-for-inspections had people in droves (and real estate website traffic is also trending up). Numbers were huge, but we doubt whether those numbers will translate to bidders. We have spoken to a great many people and the sense we get is that interest rates dropping is not going to persuade them to move. It’s confidence that’s lacking.
There are also many waiting to see whether or not prices will drop further in the short term, hoping to peg the bottom of the market. But they still have to live somewhere and as those few sales over the weekend confirm, if it’s a good property, they will still go for it with their ears pinned back.
DM
Bayside: the flood to come.
The last big push for 2008 has started. Bayside’s agents are being inundated by vendors wanting to sell before Christmas. All eyes will be on December 6th, now expected to be the busiest auction day for the year.
Given the odds that the majority of these properties will not sell at auction, or even attract serious buyers, the question must be asked: Why are all these sellers about to put themselves through such pain for so unsure a result?
They couldn’t possibly all have margin calls to settle by the end of the year, so why do it ?
Properties under a million dollars are still attracting varying degrees of interest, but anything with seven figures is mostly being ignored at auction.
An example of this is the auction on the weekend of 17 Byron Street, Brighton. A well renovated and extended single-level period home with a north facing rear garden on 700sq m in a quiet street near the Bay Street shops. It ticks all the boxes, but raised nary a sniff at the auction. Result? Passed in on the auctioneer’s bid of $1.55 million. The asking price is $1.65 million.
129 Cochrane Street, Brighton was finally put away for $1.2 million some weeks after a failed auction. The vendor’s initial expectations of something north of $1.5 million were well and truly shattered. This may be why a similar property at 36 Orchard Street was sold before auction for exactly the same price.
There was better news for the sellers of 181 Were Street, East Brighton where a bid of $1,150,000 was gratefully accepted.
Hampton appears to have hit the wall. Anything over a million has been ignored for the second week in a row. All three attracted only vendor bids; any real buyers went missing in action.
16 Orlando Street, passed in: $1.1 million, reserve $1.165 million.
51 Earlsfield Road passed in: $1.1 million, reserve $1.25 million
75 Thomas Street passed in: reserve $1.025m
Further down the Bay in Beaumaris, 74 Tramway Parade, a 10 room house on 865 sq m was sold for $1.72 million.
In Elwood, 45 Tennyson Street was sold at auction for $1.465 million, but 249 Brighton Road was not so successful: the reserve was $1.2 million and the best offer (the vendor’s) was $1 million.
The top of the top end in Brighton will be severely tested over the next three weeks. There’s a swag of properties over $3 million being offered either at auction or by what used to be called a private sale and is now the much more salubrious Expression of Interest (a euphemism for agents trying to claw back some kind of control).
43 Kinane Street (vicinity of $3.4 million)
180-182 The Esplanade ($3.5 million+)
24 Hanby Street ($3.1-3.4 million)
11 Gould Street ($3.6-4 million)
… all go to auction before the end of November.
32 Dawson Avenue ($5 million+) and 5 Brandon Close ($4m) will be auctioned early in December.
Expression of Interest private sale campaigns are closing over the next couple of weeks for “Blair Athol” at 5 Leslie Grove ($8 million+) and 49 South Road ($4. 5 million) and then there is “Camrock” at 25-27 Elwood Street for sale ($6.5 million+), “Tandragee” at 70 Halifax Street ($7.5 million+) for sale and “Nithdale” at 316 St Kilda Street ($6 million+) for sale.
There will be some long and anxious hours being put in to clear all of these major holdings and Santa can’t come quickly enough for some.
Meanwhile, it has been reported to us that a modern beach front property at 6 Brandon Road, Brighton, on 1250 sq m has been sold for around $7.1m.
Maybe Santa did come early !
DT
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