THE clearance rate at a prestige Gold Coast auction event dipped to 38 per cent, revealing a stand-off between hesitant buyers and vendors refusing to budge on price.
While a crowd of hundreds packed into The Langham’s conference centre for Amir Prestige’s Grand Summer Auction Event, the atmosphere shifted as bidders stayed silent and several homes were passed in.
Three of the 37 listed properties sold under the hammer, while five more went under contract shortly after. A further three houses sold prior to auction, and another three deals were closed within 24 hours.
The result comes as latest PropTrack data shows a clearance rate of 34 per cent for auctions across the Gold Coast region last week.
Auctioneers Nigel Long and Scott Harman remained upbeat, while the stream of agents working the room did their best to elicit higher bids from wary buyers.
Amir Prestige director Amir Mian said the results showed sellers were yet to meet the market, with rising interest rates putting a handbrake on buyers’ ability to splash cash on real estate.
More buyers required finance or were otherwise unable to buy under auction conditions.
“What we can see from tonight is the buyers are here, they want to bid but they are hesitant,” he said.
“There is still a gap between what the sellers want and what the buyers can now pay, and that is where we are seeing more negotiation needed to get the property sold.”
Properties auctioned ranged from beachside apartments to sprawling Hinterland estates and prized vacant lots.
The first sale of the night went to a two-bedroom unit in Broadbeach. It changed hands for $770,000 after a flurry of 15 bids.
A four-bedroom waterfront duplex in the Villa de Paradise estate in Surfers Paradise sold for $1.75m, while an apartment in Broadbeach’s Signature tower was snapped up for $1.25m by a phone bidder.
Lots sold prior to auction included a family home at Highland Park ($1.74m), a Maudsland acreage property ($1.8m), and a double-storey Isle of Capri renovator which changed hands for an undisclosed sum.
The highest bid was $16.5m for a Hedges Ave mansion, but that was not enough to secure the luxurious six-bedroom home along Mermaid Beach’s Multi-millionaire’s Row.
Another buyer entered contract negotiations after making a $10.05m bid for a 405 sq m vacant block on the same exclusive stretch.
The most expensive riverfront holding of the night was a contemporary mansion set over two blocks in blue-chip Monaco St, Broadbeach Waters. The vendors marked their expectations with a $13m bid before proceedings were put on hold with no further bites from the crowd.
Bluestone, a sprawling equestrian estate at Guanaba formerly owned by Zarraffas coffee founder, Kenton Campbell, also passed in with a top bid of $5m.
Amir Prestige agent Alex Fleri said the event brought a “whirlwind” of inquiries and interest from both local and interstate buyers.
“We had clients calling at the last minute to bid, but others who were in the room decided to just wait and see what happened at the auction before making their offer,” Mr Fleri said.
Article source: www.realestate.com.au