The push to ban street auctions
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This is the Daily Oz.
This is the Daily Oz.
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Oh, now it makes sense.
MUSIC
Good morning and welcome to The Daily Oz. It's Tuesday the 28th of July. I'm Emma Gillespie.
I'm Elliot Laurie.
Nowhere else in the world sells houses quite like Australia does. On a stranger's nature strip or in their backyard, in front of a crowd, hammer and all. Street auctions have grown in popularity over recent years as property values soar to unprecedented heights. But one group, The Victorian Greens claims the system is designed to push up prices by pressuring buyers into paying more in an unfair environment. They want to see street auctions gone entirely. So today we will unpack why Australia does this in the first place, the state of play overseas and whether the proposed ban is actually realistic.
And we posted about this story over the weekend and I could not believe the amount of comments that were in our comment section about it. I didn't realise it was such a hot button topic.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Very hot button apparently and a very divided audience, I will say, on where people's feelings fall on this one. But we're talking about this proposal from the Victorian Greens. Now, last week they released this housing policy.
What is the Victorian Greens' proposal to ban street auctions and why now?
That is because there is a state election coming up on the 28th of November in Victoria. So all the parties are kind of putting out their election promises and pledges, thinking about how to win buyers over in the lead up to that vote. Now, this proposal would make outdoor auctions illegal. It would also see the reserve price, which is the minimum price a seller will accept, disclosed before sale. At the moment, that is a confidential number until after the fact. Agents would also have to declare their and vendors, the people selling their homes, would have to pay for building and pest reports. The Greens said that Victoria's reliance on public auctions is unusual by international standards and contributes to a housing market that increasingly shuts out first home buyers.
One of my friends recently just bought a home and all the hurdles that you have to go through to get a house, it's just crazy. And that's promising to hear that they've got those changes in the works or, you know, proposed at the very least.
Well, this is a proposal put forward by the Greens and it should be noted they are not in government. Labor is currently in government. The Greens don't look likely to form government. They've got about 11% to 12% of the primary vote at the moment based on polling. But what it could mean is that they do a deal with Labor to form a coalition or it might be a minority government. They may have to win over the Liberal Party if they form government. And this could be something up their sleeves that they say, well, we're not going to give you our support unless you back these reforms.
Yes, or at the very least, they're bringing the conversation to the table.
Exactly.
Yeah, gotcha. I want to take it back a little bit and talk about street auctions themselves because it's not how they sell every house, right?
Yeah, so in Australia, there are two main methods to sell a property and auctions are one of those. So when we say street auction, we're talking about the sale of a home conducted in front of it, live, out on the street or the footpath. In other parts of the country, like Sydney, it's really common that these auctions take place in the property itself, maybe in the backyard or in a foyer. But in Melbourne specifically, a really hot housing market in the country, these street auctions are very, very commonplace. Buyers have to register beforehand, but they bid publicly against each other until the hammer falls, until the auctioneer does the going once, going twice, going three times sold to... the gentleman in the blue Italia shirt because you had the highest bid in that moment.
But what's fascinating is that auctions are unique to Australia and I had no idea about this. What? Yeah, until Em Donoghue wrote our piece on the Instagram feed over the weekend and that's when I learnt that they were unique to Australia.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:30
2
What is the Victorian Greens' proposal to ban street auctions and why now?
1:30–15:06
3
How do street auctions work in Melbourne compared to private treaty sales?
15:06–20:56
4
How common are auctions across Australia and which cities use them most?
20:56–22:12