Santa has been and gone, New Year’s Eve (and the hangover) now a distant memory and the Australian flag embossed thongs, beer coolers and boardies are packed away for another year but still the long hot and very wet summer drifts on in the land of real estate nirvana.

Even Rip Van Winkle would be up and going for a jog around the block by now.

The Sydney Morning Herald and Australian Property Monitors report there were ONLY 46 auctions listed in Sydney this week.  What is going on?  Why are sellers so shy getting their quality renovations and feature walls back before the hungry hoards?

Could it be that auctions are just very 2015 and in 2016 “Expressions of interest invited” is the new black?  Might “Expressions of interest invited” be designed to keep buyers who don’t follow “Hammer Action” on the Glass Pyramid away from the gloomy effects of vanishing auction crowds?  Or as one wag described them are they just seeking “Expressions of Idiocy” – such cynicism!

The “snapshot” that appears at the top of this weeks report states that of the 46 auctions listed yesterday, results were obtained for 37 (30 + 7).

The agents managed to slip a report in for only 80% of the listed Auctions so in that department 2016 is shaping up as no better than 2015.

Note:   In order to encourage agents to help APM collate the most complete stats each Saturday night, the Glass Pyramid are presenting all results as a percentage of the number of Auctions Listed.  The reason for this is that agents are more likely to report ‘good results’ sooner and that can tilt the figures when results are presented as a % of what agents have bothered to report on Saturday afternoon.

Anyhow – onto the good stuff!

There are two tables this week.  The first contains yesterdays APM very slender results report sliced and diced.  The second contains a summary of the last few weeks.

A few comments on yesterday:

• Finding an auction in Sydney yesterday was as difficult as finding a spare construction crane available for hire with only 46 auctions listed.
• The number of Listed Auctions have dropped 94.5% since 5 December 2015 (850 to 46).  Sure it has been a hot greasy summer but this is Sydney goddammit we live for property!  We want auctions ! When do we want them? NOW!
• Pre-Action Panic – At 28% of Listed Auctions the pre-auction panic levels rose close to 30% with withdrawal “nerves” reaching 15%.
• Hammer Time – Hammer time softened like a Golden Gaytime dropped on hot bitumen and sank back to a measly 22%.  Auction watchers who saw something sell at auction this week should buy a lottery ticket!
• Seller Sadness – at 28% of listed auctions (26% of those passed in) Seller Sadness shot up like a hit summer single (Afternoon Delight being an excellent example of the genre) so a few hardy sellers may be nursing their second major hangover for 2016 this morning.

Table 1 – Saturday 19 December 2015

Table 2 – Summary of recent results.