[PropertyInfo.024] Auction result impacted by interest rate rise?

Last weekend we went to an auction in Winifred Ave, Epping. As shown below, everyone is expecting an interest rate rise on coming Wednesday and there's only about 7, 8 couple/families at the auction. The price guide at 1.45M was quite high for the location and house condition and we think it worth only around 1.2M.

I heard a couple next to us with an registration card, discussing whether to start bidding at 1M or 1.1M. But the auctioneer seems very confident and he starts the auction at 1.5M. Of course no one responded and he then dropped to 1.45M, then to 1.4M, and still no response. He then have a quick chat with the agent and announced a vendor bid of 1.45M. And of course that's the end of the auction. What a failure!

Today we went to a different auction also in Epping but in a much better location (Boronia Ave) and condition. You can see from photo below, there's more than 100 people at the auction. The price guide is also around 1.45M and it's the same real estate agent as the one I mentioned above.

I can remember the owner bought the house a few years back at around 950K, and we estimate it should sell for around 1.6M. Not sure if they learned the lesson or the owner has better understanding of the market condition (as interest rate just rised this week), the auctioneer used a totally different approach.

The bid starts around 1.1M, then moves up slowly: 1.2M, 1.25M, 1.3M, 1.35M, 1.4M, 1.45M, 1.46M, 1.47M, 1.48M, 1.49M, 1.50M, 1.53M, 1.55M, and finally sold at 1.555M. The winner sounds like a Korean family and they out bid the other party by just $5K, a very interesting result.

I guess even though the interest rate has risen twice in the past few months, if your location is good, house in well maintained condition, with well looked after garden, asking price is within market acceptable range, and the auctioneer can start from lower instead of a high price, you can still hit the "sweet spot" and find the right buyer...