A seismic Super Saturday auction event has sold more than $180 million worth of properties throughout Sydney, creating a home buying frenzy during one of the quietest times of the year.
Seven McGrath offices across Sydney’s West, Northwest, Hills and Hawkesbury districts took 126 homes to auction on Saturday, with an additional 50 homes selling before going under the hammer.
McGrath West Group principal Kon Stathopoulos said they achieved a phenomenal result from the Super Saturday.
“On the day, we had a clearance rate of about 68% and then by 10pm that night it was up to 72%,” he said.
He said the clearance rate continued to rise to over 80% by Thursday, as the remaining homes continued to sell after auction.
McGrath's Kon Stathopoulos says the Super Saturday auction event generated a lot of home buyer activity. Picture: Supplied
He said the Super Saturday attracted about 5,000 buyers to home inspections, generated about 12 million online listing views and about 20,000 enquiries.
The group launched all of the Super Saturday properties on Boxing Day last year to capture the attention of buyers in what was traditionally a lull of four to five weeks where no new stock came to market.
Mr Stathopoulos said it enabled buyers to beat the post-Christmas market.
“We didn’t create this event for us, we created a gap in the market for our vendors and buyers during what is traditionally a quiet period,” he said.
The five-bedroom house at 7 Calais Place, Castle Hill sold for $2.81 million. Picture: realestate.com.au/sold
“Five years ago, no one was launching homes listings until after Australia Day, so we’ve changed the messaging to the market for vendors and buyers, and for agents and agencies too.”
It marks the sixth year in a row that the group has run a Super Saturday auction event around this time of year.
A five-bedroom house at 7 Calais Place, Castle Hill achieved the highest sale price on the day, selling for $2.81 million.
A buyer paid $2.025 million for the five-bedroom house at 43 President Road, Kellyville. Picture: realestate.com.au/sold
Other Super Saturday sales included a five-bedroom house at 43 President Road, Kellyville, which sold for $2.025 million on the 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 the Super Saturday attracted property buyers of all types, including first-home buyers, upsizers, downsizers and investors.
“We did see a lot of first-home buyer activity and we've seen that since the federal government introduced the 5% deposit scheme,” he said.
The four-bedroom house at 13 Glide Place, Kellyville Ridge fetched $1.87 million. Picture: realestate.com.au/sold
“We’ve certainly seen a lot more activity from buyers, particularly around that $1.5 million mark.
"One thing we noticed was that pricing was absolutely critical. If we had a published price on it, we saw that buyers were very price sensitive around the guide, so that seemed to be a bit of a switch from the end of last year.”
Looking ahead, Mr Stathopoulos said the latest cash rate hike on Tuesday, which happened just days after the Super Saturday, would have a limited impact on property buyers.
“I think buyers have come to peace that they're not in control with what happens with the cash rate,” he said.
“These are short-term decisions that shouldn't really impact their long-term decisions around property ownership, whether they're an investor or an owner occupier.
“I think people are getting on with it and we've got a pretty good run of six to seven auction Saturdays between now and April.
The three-bedroom house at 12 Railway Terrace, Riverstone was sold for $1.275 million. Picture: realestate.com.au/sold
“Then we’ve got an interrupted month in April with school holidays and Easter right next to each other, followed by the Anzac Day long weekend.
“We’re in a good spot momentum-wise, particularly in our region, with a healthy level of stock on the market and good buyer appetite.”
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