The Sunday Telegraph is today reporting “EMBARRASSED agents are covering up a growing failure to sell homes at auction by not telling reporting bodies about their failed campaigns” with as much as 50 percent of Sydney auction results going unreported as the housing market starts to turn south.
Louis Christopher, from SQM Research said “We are having a very high percentage of auction campaigns going unreported to the reporting bodies, and we strongly believe those unreported auctions are actually failed campaigns”
Damian Cooley, Director of Cooley Auctions agrees. Last Saturday, Cooley recorded a 51 percent clearance rate, compared to Australian Property Monitors 65 percent. Damian Cooley said “Ours is 100 per cent accurate as we represented 12.2 per cent of the market on that day, so I find it hard to believe there’s a 14 per cent difference across the market”. For the month of February, APM reported a clearance rate of 62 percent, compared to Cooley’s 55 percent.
ยป Auction rates fudged by failed campaigns – The Sunday Telegraph, 6th March 2011.
If this is happening in Sydney to this magnitude, I have to wonder at what extent it is happening in Melbourne, the capital where RE corruption is the highest?
Surely auction clearance rates in Melbourne must be under 50%?
Time for a government enquiry. An organisation which is providing misleading information must be held accountable.
In Victoria, don’t bother complaining to Consumer Affairs. Have done so in relation to the intentionally misleading data released by the REIV, with solid evidence. Their response – ‘Take it up with the REIV’. Either they’re pathetically lazy or complicit. Neither would be surprising.
No they are not, why would they need to? after all there are “Early signs of life in the Melbourne market”
http://www.theage.com.au/business/property/early-signs-of-life-in-melbourne-market-20110306-1bjlg.html
“MELBOURNE house prices rose by 33 per cent over the 18 months to December 2010”, personally I don’t believe this crap, delusion is rife……
But probably the biggest yank in this article is the statement “Early auction clearance rates are encouraging”, encouraging compared to what?
@Romsey
Even the total-trash-tabloid The Telegraph (UK) has a comment section after its’ articles. Notice how The Age doesn’t, well not with this one.
I think they’re encouraged cause it isn’t dead as yet, whatever it is, it must still be breathing.
@Robert
You are exactly right. The problem is though the govt officials probably have to much vested interest in the property market so they will do everything they can not to have an inquiry…………. I cant wait till the housing market falls apart and then it will interesting to see which banks go down, govt officials get accused of various things and how much of an oversupply there really is in the market. It will happen but when. The signs are pointing to it sooner rather than later but then we have been through that before. Interesting to see if the PM steps in and props it back up like Howard and Rudd did.
LBS
Hmmm. The brand of politics might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the Telegraph is certainly not considered a ‘trash tabloid’. It’s probably about equivalent to The Australian with a fairly Tory-slant. Their finance section isn’t half bad actually.
Nice to see that QLD’s glut of unsold realestate keeps growing…… originally it was five years worth, now it’s grown to seven….
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Gold-Coast-property-faces-7-year-glut-pd20110309-ERQFT?OpenDocument&src=hp7&src=amm
I could fix the credit contraction instantly, just get the banks to do as Harvey Norman does – 60 months interest free when you purchase. The banks don’t care as the board will change as things get a little hot.
What a great way to prolong the day of reckoning until the other head of govenment is in power. I should be in public policy – this stuff is easy.
House prices are stabilising, with crash and boom off the table for the time being. We’ll experience moderate rises in most cities except Perth where we’ll see slight falls, nothing dramatic. I must say the bears made many bad calls (I include myself) and I only wish I would have predicted the unfair government stimulus to save the housing market. The stimulus was wholly unexpected. Nobody could have predicted it. Most bulls and bears now posting on AustralianPropertyForum.com thankfully believe in a stable outlook. The debate has calmed down, with neither side expecting large movements in either direction. The discussion has moved on to how long the stagnation will last before prices resume a definite direction (down or up). Something must be done to address the supply issue. There’s no doubt a shortage exists and is worsening. Rents and prices in my town (Perth) continue rising (undersupply). I don’t know what may happen population ramps up once more, a scary thought. Global citizens fleeing their depressed economies may wish to live in Australia. We should do everything possible to welcome disadvantaged migrants, but I worry about the upward pressure this places on house prices and rents. Nomad.
http://australianpropertyforum.com
WTF is going on with the RBA???????
RBA chief has come out now and said he has no problems with the cost of Australian housing with respect to incomes,
see :
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/China-India-growth-cld-last-decades-RBAs-Stevens-ESKPJ?OpenDocument&src=hp1&src=amm
YET……. a little while back Tony Richards, the head of economic analysis at the RBA was saying the opposite in a recorded audio interview I listened to from the ABC, which I still happen to have should Admin want to make it available for everyone else to listen to. In this interview he states that price spiraling would be damaging to Australia and that people will get “hurt”.
So what the hell…. it appears there is no real consensus on the problem and the damage, plenty of delusion, and no common-sense.
I wonder how many properties the Chief of the RBA and his board own.
It wasn’t just Richards who questioned values Romsey. Hasn’t Stevens changed his tune! I wonder who’s been getting in his ear.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/money/money-matters/reserve-bank-governor-glenn-stevens-says-sydney-property-boom-will-make-it-hard-for-his-children-to-buy-home/story-fn300aev-1225847189843
All of a sudden his kids can buy a home? In the 12 months since this article, neither prices or incomes have moved relatively to improve affordability. What’s changed?