Buyers compete post-auction for $1,296,000 Northcote house

Though there are other apartments listed for sale with slightly lower price guides, they were not up for auction at the weekend.

The South Kingsville auction was one of 733 auctions scheduled across Melbourne on Saturday. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 73.7 per cent from 582 reported results, while 43 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

At the opposite end of the market, an Armadale home sold to a local family for $5,185,000 at one of the most expensive auctions of the day.

The auction for the three-bedroom house at 22 Hampden Road opened with a vendor bid of $4.5 million. Three bidders fought for the keys and the home was called on the market at $5 million, and sold soon after.

Abercromby’s auctioneer Hugh Hardy said it was a solid sale, despite the house needing some fixing.

“There is some price sensitivity to things that need work,” Hardy said. “But we’re selling everything from a $2 million apartment to a $22 million house, and we’re busy at all sections of the market,” he said.

In Northcote, a first home buyer snapped up a two-bedroom Victorian terrace for $1,296,000, in a post-auction contest that occurred straight after the property was passed in.

The auction for 77 Gladstone Avenue opened and closed on a $1.25 million vendor bid placed by Jellis Craig Northcote auctioneer Nigel Harry, after his calls for bidding went unanswered, despite three interested parties in the crowd.

However, after the home was passed in, the eventual buyer and a young couple both approached agents with offers. That led to an informal auction with each trying to win the keys.

Offers started at the $1,275,000 reserve price and climbed in $2000 and $1000 increases until the property sold.

“It was a classic auction after an auction sale,” Harry said. “Both buyers were standing just metres apart and traded offers for around 15 minutes.”

Harry said the two buyers were wary of bidding on the auction floor, as both had been looking at other properties. Mixed messages about the state of the market was making house hunters more cautious.

“It’s usually the case with first home buyers that they hold back to see what the [other bidders] are doing,” he said.

Fewer homes for sale meant more people were competing at auctions, pushing prices higher, Harry said. But at the same time interest rates were rising, meaning some may be unable to afford to get into the market if they waited.

A three-bedroom house in Malvern also sold after first passing in at auction on a single buyer bid of $2.05 million.

The home at 1 Bonview Road, on 370 square metres of land, had a lot of interest during the campaign, but only attracted one bidder from the crowd of around 45 people who gathered for the auction.

The lone bidder, a woman wanting to live in the sought-after pocket of the suburb, increased her offer by $125,000 in post-auction negotiations, and the property sold for $2,175,000.

The home sold within the $2 million to $2.2 million price range.

Marshall White Stonnington director and auctioneer Justin Long said properties were getting solid prices, as a lack of stock was still influencing the market.

“The vendors haven’t yet come back, they haven’t seen things have strengthened as much as they have, but they are starting to cotton on now,” Long said.

Agents expected more houses and units to be listed for sale in coming weeks, he said.

In Brighton East, a large two-bedroom unit with a home office sold for $962,000 after four bidders traded offers “like a freight train”.

The property at 2/87 Thomas Street sold well above the $780,000 to $835,000 guide to a woman looking for a bolthole closer to the city.

Buxton Real Estate Brighton’s John Clarkson said the bidding opened at $750,000 with the price reaching $800,000 quickly.

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“Once it reached the $800,000s there were two bidders fighting tooth and nail to buy,” Clarkson said.

A young couple fought it out with the buyer, but couldn’t hold on in the end.

Clarkson said the sale was very competitive, as buyers were back in the market after 11 interest rate rises over the past 12 months. But vendors were yet to return in large numbers.

“A lot of vendors are still sitting on their hands, and they’re really missing out on the market,” Clarkson said.