Private Treaty Gains Traction

Sellers are ditching auctions for private treaty sales as market sentiment shifts.

Cotality analysis shows that preliminary auction rates have been low for the past seven weeks and sat at 54.8% across the combined capital cities last week.

Not only are clearance rates down but also the number of properties being taken to auction is dropping – down 8.7% in the past week.

Cotality head of research, Gerard Burg, says there has been a shift in seller sentiment, with vendors opting for private treaty over auction campaigns.

“Auctions are losing a bit of the shine,” he says.

Burg says auctions tend to perform better in high-demand environments, but at the moment confidence is lower than normal.

“People are favouring the certainty of either if they do start an auction process – they’re accepting offers, perhaps with some negotiation with the buyer, but not taking it to auction or pulling back and looking for a private sale.”