Real Estate
29 December, 2023
Auction sales go ballistic
IN 2023, the Ray White Group scheduled close to 27,000 auctions across the country – a figure nearly on par with the year before.
Ray White cleared 66 per cent of all its stock under the hammer in 2023, up from 63 per cent in 2022, while the group’s total auction sales clearance rate came in at a strong 73 per cent.
Bidder numbers across Ray White auctions in Australia rose from last year with 4.5 average registered bidders per auction and 2.8 bidders on average actively participating. The capital city with the highest number of registered bidders was Adelaide, recording 6.7 average registered bidders and 3.4 active bidders per auction.
Sellers across the country also netted nearly 11 per cent more for their property if they held out until auction day and sold under the hammer in lieu of taking a prior offer.
There was a mix of different auction buyers throughout 2023, with just over 20 per cent identifying as an investor and a further 79 per cent being owner-occupiers. The Gold Coast had the highest level of auction buying investors of any major auction market at 28 per cent.
Meanwhile, the rate of investors selling through auction rose slightly towards the end of the year equalling nearly 27 per cent. Brisbane had the highest rate of investors selling at 31.3 per cent, closely followed by the Gold Coast and Melbourne at 30.5 per cent and 29.6 per cent respectively. Owner occupying sellers represented nearly 70 per cent of auction vendors.
Buyers coming from interstate to buy at auction made up just under seven per cent of Ray White’s auction purchasers while just over 90 per cent were local buyers. International buyers sat at 1.8 per cent. The Gold Coast topped the list for most interstate buyers of a major market with 25.4 per cent coming from across the border.
Ray White’s top auction sale of the year was “Welbon” in Garah for $33 million in April. The 11,822.5ha property was sold by Ray White Rural Moree principal Ed Wisemantel at a midday in-room auction event.
Local grower Andrew Yates bought Welbon from the Carrigan family.
Five bidders registered for the auction, with three active bidders driving the value from its opening bid of $18m up to the winning bid of $33m, or almost $7000 a hectare.
A no-reserve auction in Logan, south of Brisbane, not only topped the Ray White auction list for the highest number of bidders, but it broke the Australian record books with 161 registered bidders vying for the derelict vandalised home.
Ray White Marsden agents Cory Boyd and Keron Petzer sold the property on behalf of their owner who lived interstate.
The property had been left vacant for a few years which led to vandalism and the house was in a state of total disrepair.
An investor from Parramatta in Sydney bought the property for $494,700 while bidding online. He plans to fix the home up and then rent it out.
