More than half of the 46 properties on the block at South Auckland’s single biggest auction this winter found a buyer.
Ray White Manukau co-owner Tom Rawson told OneRoof that the more than $22 million in property sales at his agency’s big auction day last Wednesday showed that the market had turned the corner.
Rawson said some of the properties that passed in at the auction, dubbed The Day, had sold shortly after, and about 20 more were expected to sell over the next few days.
“We had a lot of experienced people in the room – 264 registered bidders. It was chocka all day, with probably 150 people at the auction at any one time,” he said.
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The office has held several big auction events in the last 12 months. Prices at last week’s The Day were lower than those of previous events, but Rawson said that reflected how far the market had fallen this year.
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However, prices weren’t the whole story, though. “People were saying to me, ‘It feels like we’ve turned a corner’, that there was a lot of positivity in the market,” he said.
“Once you have communal positivity, things become more positive because we’re sheep in this country, when it comes to confidence.”
Rawson said the next The Day would be in October, “so we can already say, ‘Are you ready? Let’s do it’, and bring that spring market forward”.
He said the uptick in the clearance rates showed the time was right for some buyers to act. “Sellers are meeting the market [whereas] in the past, the sellers have been trying to be above the market. They are comfortable meeting the market because there’s enough data around now to show them.”
The Day's highest price was $2.645m for a 6.5-hectare kiwifruit block on Alfriston Road, in Alfriston. Photo / Supplied
Ray White auctioneer Ben East called the auctions with colleague Sam Steele. Photo / Supplied
OneRoof’s July House Price Report shows that while Auckland’s average property value had dropped 2.4% in the last three months, urban Manukau prices were down between 1% and 1.9%; parts of Mangere down 2.8% to 3.2%; Manurewa 4.3% to 5% and Papakura 5.6%.
Ray White head auctioneer Sam Steele, who called Wednesday’s auctions with colleague Ben East, said that a 57% clearance rate was good for any auction, but for that to happen when nearly 50 properties were under the hammer was a standout result.
“The underlying thing is that vendors are in a pretty good space right now in terms of price expectation. With nearly six bidders on average per property, that’s a high amount of positivity.”
Steele said that the market was not facing a lack of buyers, and that vendors’ expectations across the board had seen a realistic change.
“The thing is that while stock levels are high, the number of new listings coming through is actually quite light. And people still want to transact,” he said.
Ten bidders competed for a property on Hall Avenue, in Mangere, that went for $770,500. Photo / Supplied
Rawson said there had been a mix of properties on the slate – from a fire-damaged mortgagee sale on Derrimore Heights, in Clover Park, which fetched the day’s lowest price of $430,000, to a 6.5-hectare kiwifruit block on Alfriston Road, in Alfriston, which fetched the highest, $2.645m.
The Derrimore Heights had 21 registered bidders, while another investment property on Hall Avenue, in Mangere, had 10 bidders and sold for $770,500 (below its $890,000 CV).
The agency was careful to cluster similar properties together – lifestyle plots came at the end of the day so that home-shopping couples could make it, while the seven development sites were in the middle of the day. Rawson estimated about 10 of the properties were aimed at flippers, while the rest were family homes.
“When the development properties were up, you noticed all the hi-vis vests come into the room, and the car park filled with utes,” Rawson said. “These guys fought it out and then they left.”
Notable this time, Rawson said, was that seven of the vendors selling their places had already moved to Australia, with another three moving out of Auckland. “It’s pretty intense for them to decide to sell, but now they’re over there they won’t come back.”
And while a handful of vendors withdrew their properties from sale on the day, and a couple more upped their reserve prices mid-auction so failed to sell, Rawson said buyers were turning up in droves because they knew vendors were motivated to sell.
“Owners were turning up to watch their places sell, not pass in. The expectations were huge. I had one lady crying because it is a stressful time to be selling.
“An owner who sold his place on Cooper Street, in Papakura, to first-home buyers [for $715,000] said it was the best thing to be able to meet the buyers and have a little yarn.”
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