Biggest auction day on record as buying frenzy sets new property highs

10 Nov, 2013 03:00 AM

TOBY JOHNSTONE

"This is the strongest market I've seen in my real estate career and this is the 10th year we've been in business": Auctioneer Damien Cooley.

Experts are calling it the spring that will never be repeated. A property heatwave has gripped Sydney this selling season, with almost all of the city's boom-time records smashed: record listing numbers, record sales volumes, record house prices and, as of Saturday, the busiest auction day on record.

''This is a one-in-100 year perfect storm of auction conditions - I don't think it will ever be repeated,'' said Andrew Wilson, senior economist at Australian Property Monitors.

In October, $2.23 billion worth of property sold via auction campaign. Over the same month last year, just $1.12 billion changed hands, APM figures show.

''October broke the record for the all-time number of properties sold by auction in any month in Sydney's history,'' Dr Wilson said. ''November will smash that record.''

There were 784 properties scheduled for auction on Saturday - beating the previous record set on March 27, this year, when 749 were listed.

Auctioneer Damien Cooley had 16 auctions scheduled for the big day.

''If six hadn't sold prior, I would have been a very busy boy,'' he said.

''This is the strongest market I've seen in my real estate career and this is the 10th year we've been in business. Our market has wanted to grow for the past six years but there just hasn't been enough confidence in the global economy, and in our economy, to permit it. But, with a new government and low interest rates, people have a reason to compete for property again.''

McGrath's chief auctioneer, Scott Kennedy-Green, has also noticed the surge. The McGrath network had 170 auctions scheduled for the Saturday, nine of which were conducted by Mr Kennedy-Green.

''Our network auction bookings for November are up 45 per cent on last year,'' Mr Kennedy-Green said.

''There is an emerging auction culture in Sydney. In a market like this, it is becoming a preferred method of sale.''

While buyers have been active all year, sellers have now joined the party with 6364 properties listed for auction so far this spring. That is an increase of 35 per cent on the same time last year, when 4724 properties were listed.

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