Buyers will be out in force right up until Christmas, agents say, with househunters desperate for homes not distracted by the festivities that come with the Christmas season.
While a decade ago the market might have effectively shut down in the week before the yuletide season, Realestate.com.au is showing auctions are scheduled across SA right up until December 23, with one even set to hit the auction block on the 27th.
Turner Real Estate sales agent Martin Betts has two auctions booked for the 23rd – 24 Snowdon Ave, Salisbury East and 79 Moldavia Walk, Osborne – and said those who wanted properties don’t take a day off.
“There’s plenty of activity out there still. There are people out there that are desperate to find something,” he said.
“Because of the lack of stock, the demand is still there.
“Good properties in high demand areas will always sell well and always attract a great deal of interest.
24 Snowdon Ave, Salisbury East. Supplied
The home’s kitchen.
“However, a lot of people think not going on the market because it’s Christmas, not going in the market because of the holiday period, is the way to go.
“There are people out there desperate to find something. There’s a lot of interstate travel, nurses, police officers, the fireys, people in defence, school teachers – they are always relocating this time of year and they are always looking, and at this time of the year they do have an opportunity because they do have a few weeks off to look and there’s always activity this time of year.
“I have sold properties at 7pm on Christmas Eve.
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“I’ve also showed properties to people between Christmas and New Year, because they’re desperate to find something.
“And there’s always developers looking for those development sites.
“And once again, it comes back to the lack of supply.”
Ray White’s Justin Irving is also auctioning two properties on December 23 at 19b Ballard Rd, Smithfield Plains and 1/40 Traverse Ave, Salisbury North, and said he had achieved fantastic results right up to Christmas in previous years.
1/40 Traverse Ave, Salisbury North. Supplied
The light-filled living room.
“Last year we did run auctions right up till Christmas and had great success – we found that there wasn’t too many other agents running them and some of the properties that we did put up really did have great turnouts and achieved pretty good results, so we pretty much mirrored that again this year and have done the same thing,” he said.
“You wouldn’t run an auction on Christmas Day, or Boxing Day or anything like that, but the 22nd and 23rd – I don’t see a problem with it.
“We’ve got six auctions from tonight till the 23rd, just my team, and I think the last 53 auctions we’ve had, we sold 52 on the day of auction, so that’s a pretty strong clearance rate in anyone’s books.
“The market’s obviously changed a lot in the last five years, so I think what was once before is not now.
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“Leading up to Christmas not too many people get away beforehand, but obviously after Christmas things change a little bit, so we’re starting up again early in the New Year and we’ll be running opens on the 3rd of January.”
Mr Irving said being on the market over that Christmas break could pay off big time for sellers.
“The period between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day – it’s the most viewed time on realestate.com.au,” he said.
“If you don’t get them away over the lead up to Christmas, they’re going to get a lot of exposure over that period.”
Realestate.com.au is currently showing four auctions booked across metro Adelaide for the 23rd, with one property – a four-bedroom home at 2 Hull St, Elizabeth East booked for the 27th.
2 Hull St, Elizabeth East. Supplied
The home’s kitchen and dining room.
A cute living area.
It is the only auction booked between Christmas and New Year, with the first auctions set to return on Friday, January 9 when nine will go under the hammer, predominantly in Adelaide’s north.
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