A family who had been searching for a home for a long time paid $3,935,000 for an Albert Park terrace in post-auction negotiations on Saturday.
The three-bedroom home at 88 Victoria Avenue attracted only one bidder amid a patchy winter property market, but it was enough to secure a sale.
It was one of 813 auctions scheduled in Melbourne on Saturday. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 63.2 per cent from 533 reported results, while 68 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
The Albert Park home offered a sought-after address and parking for two cars and was listed with a price guide of $3.85 million to $4.05 million.
The family made a genuine bid of $3.75 million to kick off the auction, slightly below the bottom of the quoted price range, but no one else was willing to raise a hand.
A vendor bid of $3.85 million was placed, followed by a genuine offer of $3,855,000 from the interested party, at which point the home passed in and went to negotiations.
RT Edgar Albert Park selling agent Gerald Betts said the home sold after auction for $3,935,000, adding the sale price was very close to the vendor’s reserve.
“They are a family who’ve been looking for a long time,” he said. “They like the terrace, they like the parking, they like the location.”
He thought the home needed some renovations, including a new kitchen and at the back of the house, and that the buyers could add an en suite upstairs.
“It is a beautiful old terrace, but they still need work,” he said.
Betts said the market had been “reasonably tough”. Of the 75 groups through the home, only two interested buyers turned up on the day.
Although buyers at this level were mindful of higher interest rates, they were more focused on building costs, he said.
Elsewhere, an architecturally designed North Melbourne townhouse is still available after it passed in on a vendor bid.
The stylish three-bedroom home at 8 Little Errol Street went to auction with a price guide of $1.6 million to $1.65 million.
Two owner-occupiers were now considering the home, Nelson Alexander selling agent Charlie Barham said.
“Social proof is a really big thing in the market at the moment,” he said.
“While some are selling at auction, others are passing in.”
He said the home was in a high-end development by Chamberlain Architects and featured exposed brick and high ceilings, close to Errol Street.
Although some auctions were still fetching good results, parties at other auctions could be somewhat gun shy if no one made the first bid, he said.
Some passed-in homes are progressing to a competitive sale. “If someone shows their hand and makes an offer after the fact, all of a sudden the social proof is there,” he said.
“We have seen a number of instances where properties have passed in at auction without a bid, however either later that day or in the following days someone makes an offer and it can trigger interest.”
In Brunswick, a family home with scope for renovation sold under the hammer to a local family for $1.89 million.
The three-bedroom house on a 637-square-metre block at 61 Donald Street attracted 12 confirmed bidders, with seven making offers.
It was listed with a price guide of $1.4 million to $1.5 million. The reserve was set at the top of that range, Ray White Brunswick selling agent Jamil Allouche said.
It was on the market from the first bid of $1.52 million and then went “hammer and tongs,” Allouche said.
The winner was a man who had been sitting in his car to stay dry and came out to bid towards the end of the auction, he said.
“This one had some charm about it,” he said, with a north-facing backyard and popular location, but added that it needed a lot of work.
He felt the market was reasonable, with buyers less cautious than they were 12 months ago.
In Abbotsford, a converted warehouse drew two bidders and sold for $1,303,000 to a local couple.
The two-bedroom home at 46A Studley Street had been listed with hopes of $1 million to $1.1 million. The reserve was at the top of the range.
Bidding went up in $10,000 increments from $1.1 million until $1.3 million between the two parties, BigginScott Richmond selling agent Andrew Crotty said.
It was followed by a $1000 offer, then a $2000 bid, which was enough to seal the deal.
“Local buyers moving house - loved it and wanted to be in the spot,” he said.