Stu Benson

Good morning, and thank you for having me before what's going to be an interesting Saturday here in Sydney.

This is correct.

We've had quite a few changes in strategies and the phones have been ringing hot since the announcement.

So yeah, interesting times and a lot of agility needed right now.

Look, at the moment, what we are seeing is that we're still dealing with people who are pre-approved.

So, at the moment, the people who are registering to bid at auctions have already done their sums and financial figures and a lot of them are on the clock.

They don't want to have to go through the red tape of reapplying for a mortgage.

So, there is still a little bit of urgency out there from the buyers that we're dealing with.

They want to borrow based on the rate that they might have already locked in on their pre-approval.

So,

Still transactions happening, but the sold prior numbers are definitely creeping up as well.

Look, it really is a narrative that I'm encouraging a lot of my agents to talk to.

And that is the fact that the odds are really in the buyer's favour right now.

If you look at a hot market, and even if we were to cast our minds back six months ago and look at what was happening in spring of 2021, most registered bidders at auctions were competing with

anywhere from 8 to 12 registered bidders on average per auction.

So, your odds of actually landing the property were maybe 10%, 7% at best at any regular auction around Sydney metropolitan area.

And at the moment, you might be a one in three chance.

And so, I think if you are ready to go and you're pre-approved and you like the home, it's a good time to be a bidder.

The odds are very much in your favor.

That's exactly right.