Gold Coast real estate: More properties selling before auction

MANY Gold Coast properties are selling before auction as buyers scramble to secure their dream homes.

Agents are reporting record inquiries with sellers given offers too good to refuse and contracts signed weeks before scheduled auctions.

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Harcourts Coastal managing director Dane Atherton said the number of properties that had sold before auction with his agency had doubled since June.

“Because there’s been so much urgency to secure property and so much competition, in the past three months it’s jumped to 40 per cent of our properties selling prior (to auction).

“That’s almost half that are selling prior.”

Mr Atherton said an auction usually provided three outcomes – a buyer who makes a showstopper offer to secure the property before the auction, the actual auction where the property sells under the hammer, or the property selling after auction.

“The reason why it’s (selling prior to auction) so prevalent at the moment is a lot of buyers don’t want to miss out so they’re putting forward their best offers prior auction to avoid competition,” Mr Atherton said.

“Often an interstate buyer who’s looked via Facetime might be more comfortable not competing with other buyers.

“The other thing has a lot to do with the seller.

“If you get a good enough offer you might take that offer and not wait around.”

His agent Katrina Walsh recently sold a Mudgeeraba mansion for a record $4.6 million well ahead of the planned auction.

The two-level, seven-bedroom residence in Jabiru Estate had been on the market for less than a week before a local buyer swooped.

“We were inundated with inquiry from expats, interstaters and locals,” Ms Walsh said.

“The local buyer was attracted to the architecture, the green and the privacy.”

But Mr Atherton said there was still a time and place to go through with a scheduled auction.

“There’s definitely cases where if there’s significant interest going through to auction is of benefit to the vendor and even the buyer,” Mr Atherton said.

“Selling prior to auction only works when everyone has a chance to make an offer.

“If there are a lot of offers it’s difficult to sell prior when you’re going back to 20 to 30 potential buyers.”

Ray White Runaway Bay Group principal Ali Mian also reported a run of properties selling before auction with some residences attracting several offers.

“This month we have had a flying start,” Mr Mian said.

“We have had a good auction clearance rate but a lot of properties are selling before they even go to auction.”

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