Fresh Market News

Melbourne July 12th & 13th, 2008.

This weekend the REIV reported there were 385 auctions with a clearance or sold rate 63 percent.

Million Dollar Melbourne.

$1 Million dollar plus activity.

Normally at this time of the year after the completion of the financial year and school holidays you would expect things to start to hot up a bit in terms of numbers of houses on the market. This year will be different – there are very few homes coming onto the public auction market. This is further evidenced by the number of mainstream auction agents taking holidays in July and doing so because they have little action on their auction books.

However properties are still changing hands albeit a number at lower price levels than last year but things are still happening.

Purchases for our clients within the last month include.
$5M – $10M: One in Boroondara and One in Stonnington. Both were off market.
$2M – $5M: Two in Boroondara – one off market see attached reference and one at a Camberwell auction with 3 other bidders.
$1M - $2M: Donvale, St Kilda East, Brighton East, Hampton,
Up to $1M: Brighton, Newport, Yarraville
We keep the higher value properties more general for privacy reasons.

Director’s Purchases:
I thought we would also point out that both Adam and Mal have bought properties for their families within the last month.

Auctions and Off Markets this weekend.

40 Victoria St, Fitzroy
This is a property that had a quality renovation, but was still a bit awkward. It was a property that was a terrace home with a south facing but had lots of light. It is in a great position but opposite a big area that could at some stage in the future have major development. It had lovely bedrooms but only one bathroom in the wrong position. It had a great study with good city views which is unusual but there were several flights of stairs to get there. The block size is not huge but it had acceptable parking. This mixed bag we rated it 541 out of 1000 even though it had lots of interesting gadgets. The very straightforward auction under the direction of Arch Staver of Nelson Alexander had 60 people in attendance. Arch called for bidding and there was one at $1.5m – half time break – song and dance – still the lone bid at $1.5m. Property was passed in with no vendor bids and sold later for an undisclosed amount reported to be in excess of $1.7m.

3 Off Market Private Sales in the Toorak area:
Last week we looked at and rated three really good off market homes in the Toorak area.

Two were on smaller blocks of land (around 650sqm) but had interesting houses on them. We rated both in 770’s out of a 1000. Lifts, highest quality finishes, and both although with different agents had an $8m asking price. The market is still alive in Toorak – well at least it is in the sellers’ minds – we thought the asking prices were brave.

The third property which we gave a 900+ out of 1000 rating is one of our favourites. We love buying these homes when we can. Great living and a great investment (maybe we should become selling agents). Classic Victorian home on large land, north facing rear and great position. The architectural thought and workmanship in the renovation was exquisite and this will sell under competition at the appropriate time (despite a tougher market).

Reference:
It’s not unusual to get notes but it very unusual to get note on a property of this calibre (most people are extremely private and we respect that) that clients would like us to publicise. Thank you very much Sarah and Tom and we are including it to get more business yes but also to show you that even in this market good purchasing is not all about grinding a few dollars a price or missing out on your dream home because you were not in the right mindset.

Dear Mal,

We would like to convey to you our appreciation for your services over the past two years. 

When we were first introduced to the concept of Buyers Advocate we were understandably sceptical thinking, here is another real estate agent going to take a percentage on a purchase which we are quite capable of making ourselves without using a “middle man”.  We decided to investigate things further and found that at our initial few meetings the approach you took was a lot more “holistic” than we had expected – you really got to know us and our situation, our likes and dislikes, our family situation, and you set all of this in the context of our real estate needs.  It wasn’t surprising then that having approached you to buy us a holiday house, we ended up buying an investment property instead.

We have been looking for a new family home now for 18 months and have been considering renovating or rebuilding our current property instead.  Again, through this process, you have remained convinced that our current property is not the best street and in the best location to realise the value spent on renovating it and have been convinced that we should move rather than stay. 

You didn’t push us in this direction rather acknowledged that the emotional connection to this property may be strong enough that to stay would be the best option for us.  Notwithstanding this you undertook to look for something for us and consistently updated us with what was available, let us know when you had seen properties and maintained your patience when ideal properties came and went because we weren’t convinced.

Your life coaching skills sit very comfortably with your skills at educating your clients as to what to look for in a property – we now look at the floor plan and can reject half the properties we see on the web before going to visit them.

We had such a level of trust in your judgement that when you phoned and told us you had been told of a property that was coming on the market that you thought we should look at, we immediately know we had to see it and within the week, with your guidance and negotiating skills, we ended up buying that property!

If the comments made above are not enough to convince me now of the merits of a Buyer Advocate it is that we wouldn’t have been able to see and subsequently buy this property before auction (at a significant discount) if we hadn’t engaged the services of a Buyer Advocate beforehand.

Many thanks for all of your help.  We look forward to doing business with you again in the future.

Kind regards,

Sarah and Tom.

Million Dollar Melbourne Results

ARMADALE
S 8 Mount Pleasant Gr B 5rm 279sqm $1,005,000 Hocking Stuart
BALWYN
S 46 Campbell Rd BV 6rm 646sqm $1,231,000 Jellis Craig
PI 1/23 Yerrin St BV 7rm $1,090,000 VB res $1,200,000 Noel Jones
PI 7 Knutsford St B 10rm 904sqm $2,400,000 VB lo $2,500,000 res $2,750,000 Hocking Stuart
PS Ruby St BV 10rm 776sqm $1,400,000 Barry Plant
BLACK ROCK
S 26A Arkaringa Cr BV 5rm s/div $1,125,000 Bennison Mackinnon
BLACKBURN
PI 117 Lake Rd BV 8rm 600sqm $1,000,000 VB res $1,180,000 Woodards
BOX HILL
PS Station St WB 8rm $1,188,000 Philip Webb
BRIGHTON
S 59 Elwood St B 7rm 671sqm $1,775,000 Buxton
BRIGHTON EAST
PI 32 Canberra Gr BV 8rm 614sqm $1,730,000 VB res $1,790,000 Buxton
BRUNSWICK
S 99 Donald St B $1,300,000 Thomson
CAMBERWELL
PI 72 Fordham Av B 8rm 624sqm $1,100,000 res $1,200,000 Walsh Cairnes Kew
PS Toorak Rd 9rm $1,400,000 Eastfield RE
CANTERBURY
SB 20 Avenue Athol WB 7rm 681sqm $1,510,000 Jellis Craig
CARLTON NORTH
PI 98 Keeley La B 5rm s/div $1,000,000 VB res undisc Hocking Stuart
CAULFIELD NORTH
S 13 Orrong Gr B 7rm 555sqm $1,222,500 Noel Jones
CAULFIELD SOUTH
PS Rotorua St B 8rm 19.2mx51.2m $1,275,000 L J Hooker Elsternwick
GEELONG
PI 36 Western Beach B 1434sqm $2,500,000 VB res undisc Maxwell Collins Geelong
GLEN IRIS
S 7 Bridges St WB 6rm 710sqm $1,090,000 Mcpherson Glen Iris
PS Malvern Rd B 6rm $1,550,000 Jellis Craig
HAMPTON
PS Avondale St Rend 6rm 683sqm $1,275,000 Buxton
PS Bridge St WB 6rm 658sqm $1,132,500 Buxton
HAWTHORN
S 9 Swinburne Av B 8rm 955sqm $1,275,000 Noel Jones
MAIN RIDGE
PS Main Creek Rd $1,140,000 Jacobs & Lowe - Bennetts
MALVERN EAST
PS Paxton St BV 9rm $1,200,000 Stockdale & Leggo Mt Waverley
MIDDLE PARK
PI 3 Fraser St WB 5rm 448sqm $2,700,000 VB res $2,830,000 Hocking Stuart
MURRUMBEENA
S 39 Murrumbeena Rd B 8rm 1115sqm $1,300,000 Marshall White & Co
PARKDALE
S 149A Beach Rd Rend 5rm s/div $1,000,000 Hocking Stuart
ROSANNA
PS Grandview Gr B 10rm 1714sqm $1,275,000 Miles RE
SANDRINGHAM
PI 32 Hobson St Rend 8rm 318sqm $1,130,000 VB res $1,250,000 Hocking Stuart
SOUTH MELBOURNE
S 350 Moray St B 5rm 210sqm $1,275,000 Hocking Stuart
PI 13 Eville St WB 8rm 200sqm $1,000,000 VB res $1,100,000 Hocking Stuart
SOUTH YARRA
PI 7 Peter St B 6rm 199sqm $1,800,000 VB res $1,925,000 Bennison Mackinnon
ST KILDA EAST
S 10 Murchison St B 6rm 530sqm $1,120,000 Hocking Stuart
STRATHMORE
PI 14 Holyrood Av BV 6rm 601sqm $900,000 res $1,000,000 Barry Plant
SURREY HILLS
PI 21 Royal La BV 6rm $1,000,000 VB res $1,050,000 Noel Jones
PS Whitehorse Rd B 9rm $1,125,000 Jellis Craig
TEMPLESTOWE
PS Dena Ct BV 9rm 970sqm $1,200,000 Barry Plant
WARRANDYTE
PS Meaka Ct BV 11rm 4001sqm $1,300,000 Barry Plant
WILLIAMSTOWN
PS Stevedore St BV 5rm 580sqm $1,210,000 Century 21 Wilson Pride

Show Me The Money

Auction attended this week.

10 Murchison Street St Kilda East. I rated the home at 598/1000. About 30 people attended the auction on Sunday afternoon in a leafy St Kilda East location. The renovated Californian bungalow, sitting proudly on the street, attracted four bidders (multiple bidders a bit of a rarity in today’s market).

Auctioneer John Carter from Hocking Stuart in St Kilda opened the bidding on a vendor bid of $935,000, stating that they had received an offer on the property at that level. Don’t mind that type of openness to begin the auction.

Next bid was 950,000 and with no half time break, the property sold for $1,120,000 after seventeen bids from the crowd.

Not a surprising result considering 4 Murchison Street sold last month for $1,005,000 on similar sized land. 10 Murchison had an additional floor with master bedroom, ensuite and study/parents retreat.

This week's Home Ratings.

Two very different, but very stunning homes I saw during the week.

6 Anderson Street, Malvern East.
A new home, but rated very strongly due to the floor plan, location and land. No downstairs bedroom is a limitation, may not suit an older couple, but high quality living spaces for a larger family (or even a smaller family who like LOTS of space!). I rated the home at 831/1000.

21 Malakoff Street, Caulfield North.
A very good looking period home that again rated strongly due to its floor plan, great location and stunning period features. A significant number of the higher priced sales in Caulfield North are for newer homes with lots of WOW, so this home will be tested by a diverse buyer profile in that area. Street is full of period homes and is rated as one of the area’s best. I rated the home at 841/1000.

See other ratings at our website www.james.net.au

Architectural advisory

Auctions attended this week.

7 Peter Street, South Yarra
This property had genuine WOW – designed, built and occupied by an architect. The homes of architects (in which they design) are interesting. Views are considered, natural light is captured and spaces appear larger than what they really are. Quality of build and level of appointment is always high and the house is impressive as a result.

WOW is great, however we rated the property 590/1000 (south facing courtyard, small land content, no bedroom downstairs the negatives).

The auction itself was always going to attract a large crowd, and even in the depths of winter it did that, with around 200 people in attendance.  Auctioneer Richard MacKinnon battled the cold for some time without any bidding, and even referred to the vendor for half-time break. The property passed in on vendor bid of $1.8m , with the reserved believed to be just over $1.9m . This ask is not ridiculous, but as we are seeing more and more lately people are cautious on properties which do not tick all their boxes.

5 Elizabeth Street, Newport
We rated this 787/1000. This property had a lovely feel and was ideal suited to a young family. The prime location (in a cul-de-sac with a park at the end and very close to Newport Railway station, primary schools and shops) was well complimented by a neat, functional period style home. The feel of the house was sensational. In our opinion the quote was always weak and the auction was going to fly, Properties of this ilk are winners and can survive even the toughest of market conditions.  Over 100 groups of people had visited this house during its campaign, which was well conducted by Compton & Green.

The auction itself was fairly predictable. Strong crowd numbers for a cold Melbourne day which was the second weekend of school holidays and in a weakening market. With an opening bid of $580K, five bidders helped to push this along at a consistent level. Auctioneer Adrian Butera finally knocked this down at $740,000, an excellent result for the agent and vendor alike.

This property is a winner. Winners can prevail in tough market times.

Happy Spouse, Happy House

Note to self: Do not sell home through family or friend.

A stunning Brighton property sold last week after being on the market for approximately 6 months. The home was for sale with two local agents one of whom, I am led to believe, is closely related to the vendor. The local agents were fired and the imposing property was sold the day after through the new agent. Christmas dinner will be interesting for this family this year, it could be somewhat strained. Remember, selling a home is a business transaction.

We are aware the property market has to contend with important issues such as interest rate rises, the high cost of petrol and gloomy economic forecasting. But this weekend there was another external force that the hit and miss market had to contend with, and that was, the wind chill factor. Only the very committed and brave buyers were out this weekend.

Some suburbs such as Richmond, McKinnon and Newport enjoyed hotly contested auctions in the frigid weather. However auctions in Albert Park, Port Melbourne and Middle Park did not fare so well with their profile of buyer maybe remaining indoors in front of an open fireplace.

Auction attended this week.

One auction of note I went to on Saturday was 3 Fraser Street, Middle Park.
I rated the home 917/1000. The home is stunning. Large formal and informal rooms with soaring ceilings and period detail give the home a feeling of grandeur. Fraser Street is fully renovated on an above average block and enjoys easy access to everything this bayside locale has to offer.

In front of a good crowd Andrew Stuart of Hocking Stuart opened proceedings calling for an opening bid, he remarked to all, if he received bidding the auction would be non-referral. As mentioned previously this is a good idea in this market. No bids were forthcoming so Andrew placed a vendor bid of $2.7mil. The home was passed-in and is for sale at $2.830mil. The original quote of $2.7-$2.9mil was spot on.