Auction fever strikes as reserves are smashed

AUCTION fever is upon us once again after a hiatus in sale by auction during the heights of the pandemic.

The return to selling under the hammer comes as vendors realise that auctions accompanied by full marketing campaigns are producing fantastic results, with reserves absolutely smashed.

Agents are confirming that sale by auction is the best way for vendors to get their property in front of every possible buyer over off-market transactions.

McCartney Real Estate’s auction of 4 Price Street, Torquay, over the weekend was an example of what a full auction campaign can achieve with the reserve price exceeded by a whopping $385,000 to see the old timer sold for $1,785,000.

The vendors were ecstatic according to selling agent Kirsty Pertzel from McCartney.

“With over 100 inspections and enquiries coming from locals, regional Victoria and Melbourne, the auction campaign proved to be a great success and was the best way to bring this property to market and achieve such a tremendous result,” Ms Pertzel said.

“We had over 200 people attend the auction with the first bid at $1,350,000 to then see seven active bidders battle it out to the final call at $1,785,000.

“The winning bidders are from Preston and have been holidaying in the caravan park for over 40 years and will now make this their holiday home.”

One Agency Surf Coast also had a tremendous result from its full auction campaign of 8 Sandhurst Crescent, Jan Juc, seeing the property sell for $265,000 above reserve.

The campaign saw more than 75 inspections, with the majority coming from local interest, although the winning bidder was from Warrnambool and plans to move down in the future.

Director Shaun O’Callaghan said it was such an incredible campaign due to the level of interest from local buyers and, of course, Melbourne buyers.

“Interestingly though, it was a regional buyer who was successful on the day. The reserve was $970,000 and the bidding intensity eased at $1,100,000 and then picked up momentum again and ran through to the final sale price of $1,235,000.

“As expected, the owner was flabbergasted and ecstatic, and the reason they put us to work was based on a proven track record, regular updates, consistent feedback about the campaign progress – as Kevin the owner stated, he could not fault our approach.

“The buyer pool in Jan Juc is very healthy and the pent up demand is favouring sellers.”

These tremendous auction results come off the back a Lorne beach shack smashing the reserve at auction by $1,450,00 and selling for $4,850,000 and an older style Torquay home at 5 Antares Court also punching through the reserve by $192,000 to be sold for $1,117,000 – proving that auction fever is back.

Hayden Real Estate Torquay is also seeing significant interest from its auction campaign of another Torquay old timer at 11 Pride Street where selling agent Brent Hartigan confirms they have had over 50 inspections and more than 100 enquiries in the first two weeks of the campaign.

“The interest has been from a mix of locals, buyers from Melbourne, Ballarat and Geelong, with the ultimate goal of the auction campaign being to achieve the best possible price for the vendor,” Mr Hartigan said.

“The auction campaign is a great way of showing transparency to both the buyers and vendors.

“Buyers know they are competing on a fair playing ground and this brings about confident bidding.

“Property is in very high demand, particularly in Torquay and Jan Juc, and this is creating strong competition and strong prices.”

The auction of 11 Pride Street, Torquay, will be on February 27. See this edition of My Coastal Home for more details.