Saturday’s Earthquake Auction sold properties worth more than $180 million across Sydney, creating a frenzy for buying a home at one of the quietest times of the year.
McGrath’s seven offices in Sydney’s West, Northwest, Hills and Hawkesbury regions took 126 homes up for auction on Saturday, with an additional 50 homes sold before going under the hammer.
The principal of McGrath West Group, Kon Stathopoulos, said they have had an amazing result since Super Saturday.
“On that day we got about 68% approval and at 10pm it reached 72%,” he said.
He said the clearance rate continued to climb to more than 80% on Thursday, as the remaining houses continued to be sold after sold.
McGrath’s Kon Stathopoulos says the Super Saturday auction generated a lot of sales. Image: Provided
He said Super Saturday attracted about 5,000 buyers to home inspections, generated about 12 million online listing views and about 20,000 inquiries.
The group launched all of its Super Saturday properties on Boxing Day last year to grab the attention of buyers during the usual four to five week period when no new goods hit the market.
Mr Stathopoulos said it enabled shoppers to hit the post-Christmas market.
“We did not create this event, we created a gap in the market for our sellers and buyers at a time when it would normally be quiet,” he said.
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A five-bedroom house at 7 Calais Place, Castle Hill sold for $2.81 million. Photo: realestate.com.au/sold
“Five years ago, no one was launching real estate listings until after Australia Day, so we’ve changed the messaging in the market for sellers and buyers, and for agents and agencies as well.”
This is the sixth year in a row that the club has held a Super Saturday auction at this time of year.
A five-bedroom house at 7 Calais Place, Castle Hill achieved the highest sale price of the day, selling for $2.81 million.
A buyer paid $2.025 million for the five-bedroom home at 43 President Road, Kellyville. Photo: realestate.com.au/sold
Other Super Saturday sales included a five-bedroom home at 43 President Road, Kellyville, which sold for $2.025 million that day.
A four-bedroom house at 13 Glide Place, Kellyville Ridge changed hands for $1.87 million, while a three-bedroom house at 12 Railway Terrace, Riverstone fetched $1.275 million.
Mr Stathopoulos said Super Saturday attracted property buyers of all types, including first-time buyers, upsizers, downsizers and investors.
“We’ve seen a lot of things done by first home buyers and we’ve seen that since the federal government introduced the 5% down payment program,” he said.
A four-bedroom house at 13 Glide Place, Kellyville Ridge went for $1.87 million. Photo: realestate.com.au/sold
“We’ve definitely seen a lot of activity from buyers, especially that $1.5 million mark.
“One thing we’ve noticed is that prices are very important. When we have the price published on it, we saw that consumers were more sensitive to prices closer to the guide, so that seems to have changed from the end of last year.”
Looking ahead, Mr Stathopoulos said the latest rate hike on Tuesday, which came just days after Super Saturday, would have little impact on property buyers.
“I think that consumers are now at peace that they cannot control what happens with the price of money,” he said.
“These are short-term decisions that really shouldn’t affect their long-term decisions about property ownership, whether they’re an investor or a landlord.
“I think people are getting on with it and we’ve done very well with six to seven auction Saturdays between now and April.
A three-bedroom house at 12 Railway Terrace, Riverstone sold for $1.275 million. Photo: realestate.com.au/sold
“We had a busy April with the school holidays and Easter close to each other, followed by the Anzac Day long weekend.
“We are in a good position for momentum, especially in our region, with a healthy level of stock in the market and good consumer demand.”
