National Clearance Rates Lift Despite Melbourne Lockdown
The record-breaking May home auction market concluded strongly.
The record-breaking May home auction market concluded strongly.
The past five weekends have seen unprecedented auction numbers flood the market.
With the influx of listings seeing major capitals Sydney and Melbourne trending downwards, national listing numbers rebounded on Saturday, May 29, with the national average on Saturday increasing to 82.2% – marginally higher than the previous Saturday’s 82.0%.
This comes as 2505 auction reported – higher than the previous weekend’s 2333 and just below the May monthly record of 2563 set on May 8.
Of note, lockdown measures in Melbourne hardly impacted the market with the city reporting a clearance rate of 76.5%, just below the 76.9% recorded the previous weekend. Despite being the lowest result for the year so far, the figures remain impressive when considering the restrictions imposed.
Reporting 1272 auctions on Saturday, well ahead of the 1117 conducted the previous weekend, Melbourne’s median price for houses sold at auction on the weekend was $987,500 – just below the $995,500 recorded over the previous weekend.
Sydney was at the heart of the strong national figures with a clearance rate of 82.2% clearance rate – higher than the 81.5% recorded the previous weekend and the first lift in rates in five consecutive weekends.
A total of 981 Sydney auctions were reported on Saturday, higher than the previous weekend’s 949. This brings Harbour City’s total to a record-breaking 4868 weekend auctions over May, with each Saturday registering over 900 listings.
Sydney recorded a median price of $1,605,000 for houses sold at auction at the weekend, just below the $1,620,000 reported over the previous Saturday but 27.9% higher than the $1,255,000 recorded over the same weekend last year.
Data powered by Dr. Andrew Wilson of My Housing Market.
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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.