Why show up?’ Buyers’ frustration grows

PHOTO: Buyer’s agent Wendy Chamberlain has called for the laws around price guides to be changed in Victoria. Picture: Supplied

With houses selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars above price guides and reserves, some claim there’s a widespread problem.

With a $250,000 deposit, Melbourne woman Grace Almeida has turned up to auctions ready to buy a home based on the price guides — but hasn’t even gotten a bid in.

The 22-year-old has been looking for a two-bedroom unit in south east Melbourne for the past three months.

She was lucky enough to have been left some money from her grandparents, but said she has also been saving for a home since she was 18.

Her first auction was for a two-bedroom unit in Surrey Hills in Melbourne. Its original price guide was $700,000 to $770,000, which was then upped to $730,000 to $800,000.

“It was pretty small and the kitchen and bathroom needed to be redone and it ended up going for $950,000,” she told news.com.au.

“I was waiting until it slowed down at around the $750,000 mark but it never slowed down. It’s just disheartening. It’s so much above what you expect it to be, so it’s like, what’s the point in showing up?”

And the practice of real estate underquoting is a problem that’s happening right across Australia, with Fair Trading recently announcing a crackdown on Sydney real estate agents who deliberately underquote property prices, with those caught out facing fines of up to $22,000 and the loss of their commission under the Property Stock and Business Agents Act.

Ms Almeida said that a couple of weeks ago she was interested in another property in the Melbourne suburb of Camberwell. The price guide was again amended from $680,000-$730,000 to $750,000-$800,000.

“It went to auction and once again I didn’t even get a bid in and it went for $890,000. The price guides are quite obviously not accurate … I think really you do need to add $200,000 on top of it to even be in an accurate range,” she said.

She said it highlighted the issue of misleading price guides as property prices continue to rise across Australia.

Buyers’ agents have said the issue is widespread, but one real estate agent with more than 20 years experience said it was in the “absolute minority”.

“Agents don’t need to do anything else other than list a property at the correct price and the market will do the rest,” the agent said.