barns

6 Mar 2011, 06:33 AM

We've been through all this. Clearance rates got down to 50% in dec and Jan rates are rubbish - very little activity. Feb not final yet and march just started.

Jacks money

6 Mar 2011, 07:44 AM

hey just reading the sunday telegraph ... page 11
the unreported auction tale .... anywhere between 10 and 50% :sleep:

Rastus2

6 Mar 2011, 12:19 AM

anyone know why apm.domain.com.au auction results show such terrible clearance figures ?

Quote:

 

The real question is whether or not there are more 'unreporteds' today than there were a few months ago when initial reported auction clearance rates in Sydney and Melbourne were under 50%. If the percentage of 'unreporteds' is consistent through the years, then auction clearance rates have still risen from their lows last year, regardless of the underlying 'true/final/revised' clearance rate figure.

Louis - do you have data (a chart) on the percentage of 'unreporteds' over time?

Quote:

 

* Up to 50pc of auctions going unrecorded
* Agents "don't want to report failures"
* Results still robust, analysts say

EMBARRASSED agents are covering up a growing failure to sell homes at auction by not telling reporting bodies about their failed campaigns.

Figures compiled by research agencies Australian Property Monitors and Residex over the past three weeks show that between 10 per cent and almost 50 per cent of auction results across Sydney went unrecorded.

The reason was embarrassed real estate agents wanting to avoid reporting of failed auction campaigns, said leading property analyst Louis Christopher, managing director of SQM Research.

"We are having a very high percentage of auction campaigns going unreported to the reporting bodies, and we strongly believe those unreported auctions are actually failed campaigns," Mr Christopher said.

Sydney clearance rates from last Saturday were recorded at between 61 per cent and 65 per cent by leading data property collection agencies. But the true figure is far worse.

Director of Sydney's largest independent auction house Damian Cooley of Cooley Auctions strongly agreed.

He said agents avoided calls by data collection agencies to stop properties that passed in being recorded in data base and newspaper listings.

"In the vast majority of cases, the results that don't get reported were either withdrawn or passed in, and the agents don't want those results reported the next day," he said.

Cooley Auctions had a 51 per cent clearance rate for its 76 auctions last Saturday, the busiest day of the 2011 selling season so far, compared to APM's 65 per cent clearance rate for the day.

"Ours is 100 per cent accurate as we represented 12.2 per cent of the market on that day, so I find it hard to believe there's a 14 per cent difference across the market," Mr Cooley said.

Cooley Auctions also recorded a lower clearance rate of 55 per cent for the entire month of February than APM's 62 per cent.

Under-reporting can make property prices seem more buoyant than they are.

But buyers should not be using only clearance rates to gauge the state of the market, experts said.

What's more, the current flatter market in which buyers were holding back at auction was generally forcing prices lower than last year, Mr Cooley said.

"Lower prices are being achieved this year in most cases," Mr Cooley said.

"The great side of that is that there'll be brilliant buying opportunities over the next quarter of the year as there's quite a bit of property on the market. In February this year, we did 306 auctions, whereas last year, we did 183 - an increase of 67 per cent."

APM senior economist Andrew Wilson confirmed some agents did not report their results on purpose, but denied that the market was flailing.

"Our data confirms that while there is not a boom, there is a sense of recovery," Mr Wilson said.

"Auction clearance rates are reasonably robust.

"There are spot sales and anecdotal evidence that vendors are getting better results than expected and buyers are still active and competitive."

Residex had almost 20 per cent of auction results go unreported last Saturday.

Rastus2

6 Mar 2011, 12:51 AM

Auction rates fudged by failed campaigns

Shadow

6 Mar 2011, 08:38 AM

The real question is whether or not there are more 'unreporteds' today than there were a few months ago when initial reported auction clearance rates in Sydney and Melbourne were under 50%. If the percentage of 'unreporteds' is consistent through the years, then auction clearance rates have still risen from their lows last year, regardless of the underlying 'true/final/revised' clearance rate figure.

Louis - do you have data (a chart) on the percentage of 'unreporteds' over time?