Land sales just a click away

Forget camping out overnight to secure your dream house site – a developer has introduced online bidding for new land sales at one of Truganina’s newest estates.

The Ellarook estate, which is being developed by Intrapac Property, trialled a new online bidding process recently, selling 20 blocks of the estate’s stage four release in 20 minutes.

Intrapac Property chief executive Maxwell Shifman said on the morning of the land release, interested buyers could submit an expressions of interest form from 10am.

From there, the Ellarook sales team contacted the potential buyers in order of time their forms were received, gave them the chance to nominate which block of land they wanted, took a $5000 deposit over the phone and booked in a time to sign the contract.

Mr Shifman said the online bidding process was in response to an earlier land release at Ellarook in February during which 16 families camped out overnight to get their hands on a block.

“The online system sped up the process for everyone and made it fairer for those unable to spend the night away from home camping,” Mr Shifman said.

“No forms were allowed or taken for consideration if submitted before 10am to make it fair and on a first-come, first-served basis. It was a smooth process as customers knew the rules a few days prior to the launch and the purchase process was clear and fair.”

Mr Shifman said Ellarook would again use the online bidding system when it puts stage five out to market in mid-July.

The Truganina housing market had a slow start to 2017, with less than 30 house sales in the first three months of the year.