Australian Property News

AFL final replay throws Melbourne auctions into disarray

Posted on Tuesday, September 28 2010 at 2:29 PM

Many vendors will choose to postpone auctions this weekend rather than risk a low turnout due to the unpredicted distraction of the AFL grand final replay between Collingwood and St Kilda on Saturday, according to a report by SmartCompany.com.au.

According to property experts, hundreds of Melbourne auctions will be affected.

Adrian Jones of Noel Jones Real Estate (a Hawthorne supporter) told Smartcompany.com.au that most agents were expected to advise clients to reschedule.

"All agents handling schedules for the next week will be talking to their vendors and it's not very hard to add another 24 hours to the schedule. It has relatively little marketing impact, all you have to do is replace stickers on boards, change your internet listings and there you have it,” said Jones.

Australian Property Monitors general manager Anthony Ishaac (a rugby supporter who is backing Saint Kilda) said it’s hard to predict what will happen, but he does believe the typical Melbourne auction weekend will struggle to see high levels of attendance.

If the previous weekend was any indication of what might happen this coming weekend with AFL hype, said Ishaac, 52 of the 65 auctions proceeded to a sale, while 13 were passed in.

He said there was no clearance rate revealed because the number of auctions fell under 100, resulting in a figure “statistically not reliable”.

Ishaac today told Australian Property Investor magazine that he was surprised there were still 685 properties listed for auction this weekend in metropolitan Melbourne, but that he’d be “running the numbers” over coming days to see if that changed.

Australian Property Investor editor Eynas Brodie (an Adelaide Crows supporter who is also backing the Saints) said Melbourne auctions would be most affected, given it was the auction capital of Australia and also the location of the grand final rematch.

“In Queensland, for example, only about three per cent of listed properties are sold through the auction process,” she said, “so the impact is likely to be minimal elsewhere.

“Having said that, the NRL grand final on Sunday will be another reason for prospective buyers to move property inspections and auctions lower down their list of priorities this weekend.”

It’s also a long weekend, she noted, but only for New South Wales, the ACT and South Australia, which will be marking Labour Day on Monday.