Brentacc

Hello All,

As usual I realise that this may not be an easy question to answer but here goes anyway!

Having been trawling the websites looking at houses on the gold coast (helensvale or coomera seem to appeal most) and wanted to know if in general houses sold for their asking price, a higher price or (fingers crossed) a lower price.

To try to quantify this in my experience despite the continual media hype surrounding UK house prices the last three houses I have bought have all accepted offers between 10 & 20% lower than their asking price would the same apply in Oz in your experience?

Thanks for any advice, best regards, Russell.

Nico

I just checked out a property in Melbourne that I was interested in, and found that at auction it had sold for about 15% more than the suggested price, which isn't good news. Perhaps someone who knows the property market can comment on whether this is down to regional variations, eg. the fact some property is sold by auction in Vic?

Willij

We are moving to Melbourne shortly and I have been told that as a general rule of thumb expect to pay 10% more than the asking price.

However, I believe there are also variations within areas.

Oztennis recently posted this link to the Melbourne Property guide on Britvics.

http://www.domain.com.au/Public/Guides.aspx

Brentacc

Oh Balls!!

Thanks for you input looks like we had better revise our thinking some what!?

SydneySwede

Hi, Some friends of ours recently bought a house in Southport which is not far from the areas you've mentioned. They put in an offer which was about 10% below the asking price and it was accepted! Don't know if they were lucky or if this is the way if works.

JackTheLad

It all depends on the market supply and demand, and how realistic the asking prices are. Our current house we paid about 8% less than the asking price. Someone else offered the seller 15% less, 3 months before us and was rejected. Recently in our area (bayside) I think many houses are selling at lower than the asking price.

Mrs JTL

Suni&Jay

All depends on how desperate the seller is, if they have bought else where they need to sell, if not they can afford to hold out for the best price.
We have just bought in Oxenford (near Coomera/Helensvale) and only managed to get 4% of the asking price. We had seen another house which we had seen on the internet while still back in the UK, it went to auction and the only bid was about 27% lower then orignal asking price.
You can afford to go in at a lower price as you will have nothing to sell. And it will be better if you are a cash buyer.
When you put in an offer and it is accepted you will need to put down a deposite of around 5-10% and sign a contract. The agent will tell you that you have a 5day ' cooling off period, but what most won't tell you is that it will cost you .25% of the offer price if you do pull out within the 5 days.

chels

Do you mean 'when you put in an offer AND it is accepted'? You don't have to put down a deposit to make an offer, I don't think...

If you buy at auction, you won't be able to get the deposit back. There's no cooling off period, you've committed to buying the house.

Suni&Jay

Yes sorry, your right, IF the offer is accepted

slipshot

Remember that in Melbourne, the vast majority of property is sold via auction as the way to go. And while it's fun, it's not for the faint hearted so make sure you do the checks first. Have been to a few, and watched while our MIL sold hers via auction. The key thing is the reserve which most auctioneers will advise when it has been reached. If you have not heard this, chances are it has not been reached and therefore any bid you make will probably not be accepted.

This can be good though - suppose it ends and does not sell (reserve not met) you can then go and request to meet the vendors and meet somewhere in the middle. The reserve may be too high of course, but it gives you the chance to negotiate which an auction never allows...

StellaDave

Maybe it depends on what State your in. i.e. in England offers are usually lower than the house price, where as in Scotland offers are always higher than the house price.

chels

Fun? I find them really unpleasant to watch! The pressure put on the bidders to increase their bids, or put in a bid even, seems completely over the top. It's like watching some surreal play in someone's backyard, with the neighbours having a stickybeak, the vendors hidden away in the house somewhere, and the bidders being encouraged to stick a few thousand on to the credit card...

I am not looking forward to experiencing it myself - in the parts of Sydney we are looking to buy, 80-90% approx of properties go to auction, so probably won't have a choice unless we put a pre-auction bid in, which we're not keen to do.

re points about checks - the amount of cases I've read that someone was driving by, saw a house was up for auction that day, had a quick last minute inspection look at the house, and then bid for it (and bought it)! No building inspections or pest reports, no second/third viewings, no getting the solicitor to look over the contract, no looking into potential developments close by, no checking what the neighbours are like... And these people are happy to spend $1million upwards on something they've only just seen 15 mins earlier. Mad mad mad mad.

iPom

Come to NSW... we pay 10% under the asking price, and that's after waiting for 6 months for them to reduce the overpriced thing in the first place.

sid_s

We rented at the gold coast early this year and there were many houses on the market that people had been unable to sell and so were being offered up for rent or sale.

Just like anywhere it all depends on the property and the motivation of the seller but it certainly seems to be more of a buyer's market at the moment.

Ian & Sharon

I'll be putting in offers 15-25% below the asking price just because I can, and if they get accepted great if they don't I'll bide my time.
There are 5 in the Bayside area that I will view when I get there and if they fit the bill I'll start the offers, so you might be invited to a BBQ soon or not so soon, I'm going to be cheeky and and push my luck.
I still think there will be a big correction in house prices hence the my offers, also I'll be targeting people who are getting a divorce, over spent and built elsewhere because these people need to sell.
Sorry if it sounds like I'm a bastard but you have to look after your own
Ian