A MESSAGE FROM OUR MANAGING DIRECTOR
I was hoping by this month ’ s Ray White Now to talk about life beyond lockdown but unfortunately that is not the case . While the lockdown conditions experienced in August made the process of marketing and selling property more challenging , the market again proved incredibly resilient . Whilst we saw a marked drop in properties marketed for sale , not just in states in lockdown but also those that continue to see much freer conditions such as Queensland and Western Australia , our total sales results for the month held up remarkably well .
Although lockdowns have had a clear impact on listings , it has created even greater competition for properties that are on the market . Demand is always difficult to measure precisely in real-time . We are however the group that undertakes the most auctions weekly , and track data from this consistently . From this , we can see that there continues to be a very high number of active bidders . Over the last two weekends , it has hit record highs of 4.2 . As a comparison , the average over the past two years has been 2.9 average active bidders per auction . This level is flowing through to higher than average prices being paid - the gap between highest prior offer and the price properties are sold for at auction hit 13.2 per cent . This is the highest level we have ever recorded .
Despite all the odds , our group has just recorded our strongest August results ever . Our members sold $ 6.85 billion worth of property in August across Australia and New Zealand , and along the way helped more than 15,000 buyers and sellers with their property dreams . To put this into context , this was only four per cent less than July and nearly 50 per cent more than August 2020 . This is a heroic effort by our members and shows everyone ’ s agility in facing obstacles to be rewarded with record breaking activity and prices . We expect a bigger bounce in our results when restrictions are lifted in New Zealand , New South Wales and Victoria .
While buyer demand remains buoyant , the full impact of extended lockdowns is still uncertain . Australian house price growth has been particularly strong since the start of the pandemic , and although current data suggests it will continue , our experience with the market in New Zealand is that conditions can change quickly , particularly once regulators begin to restrict finance .
Dan White Managing Director Ray White
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