A couple of grandparents secured the keys to a freestanding townhouse for $1.95 million to be closer to their grandchildren and help out with the babysitting.
But only after offering an extra $50,000 on the Ashburton property that passed in at auction for $1.9 million.
The four-bedroom home at 1/18 St Georges Crescent had two buyers battling it out, downsizing grandparents and a young family drawn to the schools. As it was a brisk morning on Saturday, Belle Property’s Steve Burke made the decision to hold the auction inside with the heating on.
“It was 6.5 degrees. It was cold…[The] buyer was already sitting in their own living room. And they found a nice seat on the couch. And they ended up [being] the highest bidder,” he said.
Bidding opened on a single vendor bid of $1.8 million which went up in $20,000 increments until $1.9 million.
“We had a range of $1.8 to $1.95 million. We passed in at $1.9 million. And then we sold afterwards, straight afterwards to the highest bidder for $1.95 million.”
Burke said there was nothing to spend on the turnkey property.
“Stylish, very well-built. Beautifully fitted out… It had three-metre ceilings downstairs, oak parquetry floors, marble kitchen. It was very well finished.”
The townhouse last traded for $1,605,000 in 2015, records show.
The property was one of 985 scheduled auctions in Melbourne on the weekend.
By Saturday evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 61.4 per cent from 697 reported results, while 91 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
In Collingwood at 102 Sackville Street, a three-bedroom Edwardian home owned by the same family for 50 years passed in at its reserve of $1,325,000. It sold half an hour later for $1,320,000, which was $5000 less.
Selling agent Michael Amarant from Jellis Craig said bidding was a mix of $10,000 and $5000 increments.
“[There were] just two bidders. It was sluggish bidding,” he said.
The buyer was a young family and the underbidders were a professional couple.
Amarant said the main drawcard was the generous proportions of the property.
“It was an Edwardian home with a 6.5-metre frontage so it was wider than average. It was presented in a neat and refurbished condition.”
In Hawthorn, a one-bedroom apartment with a study was fiercely contested between two first-home buyers, supported by their families. Located within a security complex at 212/6 Lisson Grove, it sold for $516,500. The reserve was $500,000.
BigginScott Richmond’s Edward Hobbs said the guide was $480,000 to $520,000.
“The reserve was in the middle at $500,000. And it sold for $516,500.”
“It’s only when I said through the auction: ‘there are some lovely neighbours in here’, you know you make that general comment as an auctioneer, and a few of them sparked up and said ‘hey, we’re neighbours this is a great spot to live!’”
The main draw cards were the added study, extra toilet, the safety features of the security complex and the tree-lined street.
The apartment was purchased off the plan for $549,000 in 2010, records show.
PRD’s chief economist, Dr Diaswati Mardiasmo, said the weekend clearance rate of 61.4 per cent shows that the Melbourne market is slightly slower than other capital cities.
“Melbourne is normally not quite far away from Sydney. It is very possible in the sense that Melbourne is one of the capital cities that we are still seeing a little bit of a slower recovery in terms of prices, like Brisbane’s median price, for example, is now very close to Melbourne’s. ”
Mardiasmo said affordability for buyers was the biggest driver of the property market.
“We are seeing quite a lot of negative price growth in the past 12 months. And so people know that the Melbourne market hasn’t fully recovered yet. So affordability, I would say for buyers is the biggest thing. But then also for sellers, because they know that the market hasn’t yet recovered. They might be hesitant to actually put their properties on the market because of that reason.”
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