Market Update 10th March 2020
By | 9th Mar 20

The Melbourne property market took a breather with a small volume of 314 auctions over the weekend and a slightly lower clearance rate of 70% as there was not a lot for buyers to choose from. There continued to be some solid results and there is a growing trend in Melbourne’s middle Northern suburbs of Preston and Reservoir where we are seeing many Asian buyers coming into the area. They were typically more concentrated in the leafy Eastern Suburbs but now we are seeing these auctions dominated by Asian buyers. We have seen this at a number of auctions including a 3 bedroom single level townhouse in Mack Street, Reservoir which was bought by Asian downsizers and a house in Rosemary Ave, Preston which was bought by Asian investors who will undertake a development in a few years.

 

We continue to get some great results for our clients before auction as we catch other buyers "on the hop" as they are not quite ready as they are expecting it to go to auction. We have been successful with purchasing properties for clients using this strategy a number of times in the last few weeks and most recently with a house in Denys Street, Fawkner for $686,000 and a updated home in Rialton Avenue, Blackburn North for $1,236,000. We also purchased a house on a large 650sqm block of land in Ragland Street, Preston for $1,101,000.

 

This has always been our buying strategy in a hot sellers market as we do not think it is smart buying to go toe to toe with competition and let emotion come into play at auction in the current sellers’ market. We try to avoid auction competition and the emotional rollercoaster we see every weekend with buyers paying hundreds of thousands above reserve.