Is the price right?

Every week I bang on about the importance of pricing property correctly and applying the best sale strategy to have a successful sale.

In a market like the one we are in now, this is as true as that statement gets.

Several metrics are examined when determining the state of the property market. These include changes in the median sale price, auction clearance rates and days on market. Each of those can be whittled down even further but for the sake of keeping it simple, I’ll stick to the basics.

The Sydney real estate market, particularly in our area of the inner west, is decidedly auction centric. Therefore, auction clearance rates are closely monitored as a good indicator of the state of the market. Last week saw a bounce back in auction volume from previous weeks and had in fact the fourth highest number of auctions booked so far this year.

In any given week, the lion’s share of auctions booked are held on Saturday. Not all auction results are reported so the clearance figure is not accurate but is certainly indicative. From the highs of 2021 when the rate hovered around 90%, the current figure now is closer to 50%. That means that nearly half the properties marketed for an auction sale are either being passed in, withdrawn or postponed.

The reason for this is almost universally a misalignment on price between the seller and the buyers. Whether this be a result of bad advice, a poorly managed campaign or ambition-filled optimism, the market is the major driving force on property values and ignoring the feedback will continue to skew expectations and make it much more difficult to result in a sale.

Last Saturday there were seven auctions scheduled on the peninsula and Rozelle. Two sold prior, two passed in, two were postponed and 1 Spring Street Birchgrove, which I was marketing and managing, was the only one that sold under the hammer.

1 Spring Street Birchgrove     

And that’s why I bang on about pricing.

Auctions are the most transparent method of selling property, where both buyers and sellers get to view all activity leaving the buyer confident they have paid a fair price and the seller confident that they have met the market. As long as the agent has experience, is skilled, and operates with integrity there should be few surprises on auction day.

The vendors of 1 Spring Street Birchgrove were located in Western Australia and were not only unfamiliar with the process in NSW but had to invest a great degree of trust in me and the process.

This is what they had to say:

Belinda is a good communicator, knows the local market well and can negotiate as required. She advised us of the best strategy for our house and achieved a great result in the current market. As interstate sellers Belinda made everything smooth and was able to explain the NSW system clearly. Authentic, genuine and personable, Belinda is the agent you want to deal with when selling. 

And that’s the ultimate result for an agent – happy clients.