Property Point

It was a tale of two cities when auction time arrived. And yes, it seemed to be the best of times for one and the worst of times for the other.

One was Sydney, the other Mackay.

The Sydney story was told loud and clear by high-profile real estate identity and auctioneer Tom Panos. For him, it was the worst of times.

Panos has a big presence on social media and is well-known by every real estate agent in Australia as a trainer with strong opinions who has a good understanding of the sector and who tells it how it is.

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Apart from travelling around Australia and the world speaking at real estate events and training the silly sods who are trying to succeed in this topsy turvy business, Panos is a prolific auctioneer who can do up to 10 auctions on a given Saturday.

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We know that since the Federal Budget was handed down in May with changes such as a ban on negative gearing on everything other than new builds, a massive increase in capital gains tax and a ban on borrowing to buy real estate through self-managed super funds, that real estate markets throughout the country have suffered.

The big impacts have been in Sydney and Melbourne, where prices have dropped significantly, and in Brisbane where sales have stalled and prices are now dropping.

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Auction clearance rates have dropped to below 50 per cent in most areas and some weekend in Brisbane, for instance, the clearance rate has been around 25 per cent. That means 75 per cent of the auctioned properties have either been withdrawn before the auction or failed to sell.

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Panos was the auctioneer for six properties in Sydney last weekend and, well, it did not go well.

Not only did all six properties fail to sell, not only were there zero bidders on all six properties but not one person registered to bid at any of the six auctions.

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Panos took his tale of the worst of times to social media and on to the mainstream media. I saw him on Channel 9 and on Sky TV telling the world that he had not one registered bidder on any property and that it was the first time in his career that this had happened.

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Panos, rightly, blamed the Federal Government’s decision to ban negative gearing and the other changes on the disastrous result.

Two days after Panos went through his worst day of auctions, up in little old Mackay Gardian real estate had it’s Monday night in-house July auctions, held at the auction room at our new office in Gordon St.

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The room was packed. There was a buzz and energy in the room as buyers filed in one after the other.  

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There were five auctions and more than 20 registered bidders, with some of the registered bidders ready to bid on several properties.

Our auctioneer, Gordon Macdonald, had a completely different experience to Tom Panos in Sydney. The bids were flowing strong and fast as buyers fought it out on the auction floor.

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Four of the properties sold under the hammer on the night and the fifth one is under negotiation and expected to sell quick smart.

I’m not going to say that it is the best of times in Mackay but our auction night did show a few things. Firstly, that anyone who say auctions don’t work in Mackay needs to have a re-think.

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Secondly, it showed that Mackay is still going well. Yes, we can’t avoid being dragged into what has happened nationally but we are not experiencing what is happening in the big cities. Negative gearing was never a big thing here, our rental returns are strong and investors are looking for the sort of good yield that Mackay offers.

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Just quietly, a seller does need an agency with a strategy and a point of difference but with the right approach the results are flowing. Go Mackay!

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