The numbers of potential bidders in recent housing auction in Australia dropped to less than one. Most did not bid.

It’s a Housing Wipe-Out in Australia.

No Bidders

Financial Review reports Auction clearance rate: House buyers know they have the upper hand.

The dramatic change in the Sydney property market was obvious at two auctions on Saturday that achieved an outcome unheard of just months ago: no bidders turned up.

At the sale of a brand-new four-bedroom penthouse Lidcombe, in Sydney’s almost-inner west, The Australian Financial Review was the only attendee.

“Are you here to bid?” the agents asked. Upon hearing I was a journalist, they told me they had interested buyers who didn’t turn up.

There were also no bidders at a three-bedroom unrenovated home in Guildford while a two-bedroom unit at Baywater Drive in Wentworth Point was passed it. That unit had been on the market for nearly a year and its asking price has fallen about 12 per cent in that time.

Public records show the vendor was asking for $730,000 in October, and $675,000 on Saturday. It passed in at $645,000 from one registered bidder.

In Melbourne, buyer’s agent Morrell and Koren’s Emma Bloom said agents were moving to a “less transparent” private treaty sale process to “protect values” of homes. “There are now either no bidders, or one bidder,” she said.

Turn Out the Lights

Turn out the lights, the party is over.