Later at the conclusion of the event, Mr Scholes apologised to those who had attended.
“That wasn’t a very well-organised exposition of a real estate auction,” he said.
“We will insist that we improve getting our vendors to actually attend the auction so that decisions can be made.”
Yosh Mendis, partner and head of agency in NSW and Rhys Parker, an associate director played down Mr Scholes’ comments and the result,
They said the smaller number of properties than usual offered was due to those buyers who had missed out at previous auctions already snapping up assets that were due to be included in this week’s line-up.
“A lot of our results have not made it into the auction room,” they said.
“We had a childcare centre in South Wentworthville sell for $1.925 million on a 4.29 per cent yield and a childcare centre in Panania sell for $2.425 million on a 4.99 per cent yield before this auction,” they said.
They called Mr Scholes’ scolding comments more playful than serious and said delays were due to vendors being in remote locations and unreachable.
Held every six weeks, the series of portfolio auctions in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are considered bellwethers of the appetite of private investors for smaller commercial property assets.
In May, 19 properties were offered for sale in Sydney with 14 selling on the day including a Goodstart Early Learning Centre in Mosman, which sold for $4.41 million at a record-low yield of just 2.75 per cent.
The first property offered for sale on Tuesday, an Ultimo café near University of Technology Sydney was “popped to one side”, rather than passed in, as Mr Scholes waited on instructions from agents and their vendors following a single bid of $2.1 million.
Then later, when he sought to return to the first auction, after the second offering, a medical centre on George Street was passed in for $6.55 million, Mr Scholes said he was unable to do so because the agents were not “organised”.
“This is the strangest auction I have ever conducted,” Mr Scholes remarked at one point.
The agency will have a chance to redeem itself in Melbourne on Wednesday, when 18 properties will be offered for sale. Mr Scholes will again be the auctioneer.
The series of auctions concludes in Brisbane on Thursday.
Previous auctions hosted by Burgess Rawson and others have highlighted that private investors prefer the security of bricks-and-mortar, even at high prices and low returns, rather than invest in other asset classes like shares.
May’s series of Burgess Rawson portfolio auctions in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne generated combined sales of $108 million and a 76 per cent clearance rate.