Auction Markets Still Hot Despite Flood Of Listings
A sharp rise in auctions had little effect on clearance rates.
A sharp rise in auctions had little effect on clearance rates.
This past Saturday, May 1, saw the home auction markets resume at full pace with a total of 2287 auctions reported in the nation’s auction capitals, an increase of 33.9% over the previous weekend and the highest offering since the Super Saturday of March 27.
Despite the surge in auctions, the average clearance rate held firm at 83.3%, just below the 83.4 of the previous weekend.
The Sydney auction market continues what is the strongest start to the year for the local housing market since 1989.
Reporting a clearance rate of 84.6%, Sydney fell just shy of the 85.1% recorded the previous weekend, and well above the COVID-impacted 52.4% recorded this time last year.
While Sydney’s Saturday result was the second consecutive weekend of marginally lower clearance rates, it was achieved despite a 39% increase in the number of homes offered for sale.
A total of 934 auctions were reported on Saturday, compared to the previous weekends 672, while the median price of $ 1,590,500 for houses sold at auction at the weekend was 9.7% higher than the $1,449,900 reported over the previous Saturday.
Melbourne fared similarly with the auction market recording its highest clearance rate in a month – a figure of 80.1% – up on last week’s 79.0% and well ahead of the COVID-impacted 34.7% of the same weekend last year.
The strong result comes as 1084 homes were listed for auction on Saturday, well above the 835 of the previous weekend and the 157 auctioned over the same weekend last year.
Melbourne recorded a median price of $1,001,000 for houses sold at auction on the weekend which was 2.6% higher than the $975,000 recorded over the previous weekend.
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A vibrant 1954 Palm Springs home featuring eight colorful murals by late artist Shawn Savage is on the market for $2.295 million. The 2,237-square-foot property features bold hot-pink doors, three bedrooms, a pool, mountain views and playful interiors blending modern glamour with classic Palm Springs style.
A bold 1950s home in Palm Springs, California, adorned with eight colorful murals by the late artist Shawn Savage, is coming to market ahead of the city’s annual Modernism Week.
The white stucco home on El Camino Way, built in 1954 and recently renovated, has an asking price of $2.295 million. Its staggered facade features three playfully abstract murals on either side of double-height hot pink doors.
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The sellers are Los Angeles-based partners John Freeman and Mathieu Faure, who knew it was “the one” when they saw it after several months of searching in the winter of 2023. “It’s a happy house,” Freeman said. “We really liked the feel of the house: the uniqueness, the openness, the brightness—and the art.”
Located in the Mesa neighborhood of Palm Springs, which backs up to the San Jacinto Mountains, the 2,237-square-foot house features three bedrooms, an angled bonus room and a yard with a pool, desert mountain views and another colorful mural running alongside the pool.
“I never thought in my life I would have a house with pink doors,” said Faure, a producer at Apple TV who is originally from Paris. “It’s so colorful, it’s so different. And so Palm Springs.”
The layout of the home creates a smooth flow from the front doors through the open-plan common area—a foyer, bar, and living and dining room—into the kitchen around a fireplace wall and out to the yard. A corridor leads to a private bedroom wing, where the primary suite has floor-to-ceiling windows and the primary bath is only a tad smaller than the bedroom.
Faure has filled the home with Jonathan Adler furniture, rugs and accessories, riffing on the energetic California vibes of the house to create an aesthetic of “modern American glamour,” he said.
“It was enjoyable for me to play with different types of furniture and make this house ‘happy chic,’ as I describe it,” he said.
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“He did a fantastic job,” said Freeman, who is an attorney and consultant. “It does kind of bring a smile to my face whenever I walk into the house.”
Since the furniture and decor were chosen for the particularities of the space, the couple is open to selling them with the home. Their West Hollywood house is already furnished; the collection doesn’t match the vibes of a Houston loft they bought near family; and Faure can’t imagine these pieces in New York—where he’s lived in the past—he said.
The duo bought the Palm Springs house for $1.925 million in 2024, according to property records, and will list the home Monday. They are represented by Stewart Smith, Patrick Jordan and Kevin Stanley of Bennion Deville Homes/Luxury Portfolio International.
The previous owners had purchased the home in 2021 for $975,000 and then spent more than two years and $700,000 on the renovation, according to Realtor.com. They commissioned Savage, a local Palm Springs artist and painter known for his joyful abstract work, to decorate the home.
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Savage, who died in 2024, lived in the Coachella Valley from 2003, and his work can be found in various local institutions and is on exhibit at the Illumine Gallery in Palm Springs. “Some artists pass through a place. Shawn Savage became a part of it,” the gallery’s description states.
Unsurprisingly, the murals invite lots of friendly conversations, as well as guided tours and interested lookers, but never to a degree that it disturbed the peacefulness of their home or the neighborhood, the sellers said. “It felt like living in an art gallery, and you have the exterior that you would share with the world,” Faure explained.
The neighborhood also played a role in their decision to buy, because of its access to the hiking trails of the San Jacinto Mountains, the lack of through-roads and the neighborly environment.
“It’s a very friendly place,” Faure said.