By Charlene Macaulay
Going … going … gone! Property auctions are on the decline because of uncertainty in the market and an abundance of houses for sale.
That’s the word from YPA Werribee director Bassam Tofaili, who said his agency had already experienced a decrease in the number of vendors opting to sell their home at auction.
Mr Tofaili said vendors were finding they were getting better results by selling privately.
“In the last two-and-a-half years auctions have been the way to sell because of the demand,” he said.
“Obviously with strong demand there’s competition and the banks were giving money to anybody so people were confident in getting unconditional approval and were going to auctions and bidding at auctions.
“Now, the banks are telling everyone to do subject to finance [when bidding] and there’s uncertainty in the market.
“There’s no competitive tension with buyers at the moment because there’s so much available on the market.”
According to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, the number of auctions in Wyndham this year to date (621) is slightly lower compared to the same time last year (725).
However, the clearance rate has dropped from 81.9 per cent last year to 66.9 per cent.
REIV chief executive Gil King said: “Real Estate Institute of Victoria data shows that 81 per cent of sales in Wyndham have been private sales compared with 86 per cent in 2017, but private sales usually take longer to report so the figure is likely to be higher than 81 per cent.”
However, Ray White Werribee director Michelle Chick said her office continues to do more auctions than private sales, with up to 80 per cent of clients preferring to put their properties under the hammer.
