Abbotsford home once used as a TV set snapped up for $1.5 million at auction
An Abbotsford house that appeared in the TV show Prisoner and was once used as a corner grocery store sold for $1.455 million at auction on Saturday.
A professional couple made a final $5000 bid to seal the deal and buy the renovated two-bedroom property at 138 Park Street, which was converted to a home in the 1960s.
It appeared as a half-way house for those who spent time in the big house in the original series of Prisoner in the 1970s.
At the auction, two couples went head-to-head after proceedings opened on a vendor bid of $1.35 million, at the bottom end of the advertised price range.
The couples traded $10,000 and $5000 bids and the final sale price was $35,000 above the $1.42 million reserve.
Jellis Craig Fitzroy partner and auctioneer Lee Muddle said sales had been coming thick and fast this weekend, as well buyers looked for well-renovated properties.
“This house was unique, it’s not just an average single front you can buy – it has the history and inside it has a really nice aesthetic that suits the old heritage style building,” he said.
The Abbotsford auction was one of 641 scheduled in Melbourne on Saturday. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 58.8 per cent from 497 reported results, while 62 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
Another historic home at 344 Beach Road in Black Rock also sold under the hammer for $4.6 million, after five bidders competed.
The auction of the five-bedroom, mid-century designed property opened on a bid of $3.9 million, with offers of $100,000 pushing the price higher fast.
The home was declared on the market at $4.4 million and sold for $200,000 more under the hammer.
Marshall White Port Phillip director and auctioneer Oliver Bruce said the landmark home had garnered a lot of attention from families in the area and a local family won the keys.
Buyers’ agent Greville Pabst, who attended the auction, said the home, reminiscent of Palm Springs, had a lot of history.
“Everyone who went through the property today was in awe of the style and truly unique features of the home – there is a blue bath with gold tapware that looks like it has been plucked from a 1970s gangster film,” Pabst said.
“This sale represents Melbourne’s two-speed market. The scarce, unique, and newly renovated or built houses are driving the market at the moment which underpinned the strength of this result,” he said.
In Mount Waverley, a four-bedroom home at 27 Palm Beach Crescent, owned by the same family for more than 60 years, sold at auction for $1.5 million after two bidders competed fiercely.
There were 75 bids exchanged between the two, both young families, who were keen to get into the Mount Waverley Secondary College zone, Eview Group director Nick Blow said.
The four-bedroom home was called on the market at $1.3 million, but bidding continued.
“The buyers will rent it out initially and will move in once their kids are a bit older, or develop it before moving in, they haven’t decided yet,” Blow said.
Six bidders fought it out for a large, family home in Lysterfield South, and the five-bedroom home at 25 Parkside Boulevard sold under the hammer for $2,062,500 – $112,500 above the reserve.
Ray White Oakleigh selling agent Nick Strilakos said the winning bidders, a couple with a large family, made a final $500 bid to win the keys.
Strilakos said well presented homes were selling under the hammer and the market had improved over the past four weeks.
“July was quite rough with the adjustment in the market, but August feels like there’s a bit of normality coming back, there’s pep in the market,” he said.
Not all houses sold as easily, however. A neat three-bedroom home at 32 Larch Street Blackburn attracted a crowd of about 80 people but just two bidders raised their hands.
The home sold eventually sold for $1.29 million, at the end of a slow auction. Bidding opened on a $1.1 million vendor bid, but was then paused as prospective buyers became hesitant.
After the auction resumed, bids crawled to $1.22 million, before the home was called on the market, Ray White Forest Hill agent and auctioneer Aaron McDonald said.
“The house was built by the owners in the 1960s, and they were hoping a young family would buy it and that’s exactly who ended up being the buyers,” McDonald said.
He said buyers were trying to use the slowing market to their advantage, looking to get a better price than they would have last year.
In North Melbourne, a two-bedroom townhouse at 2/6 Melrose Street sold for $1.158 million in a post-auction negotiation with the buyer, after passing in.
Jellis Craig Fitzroy selling agent Johanna Doherty said despite the large crowd, which included neighbours of the property, just one bidder stepped forward to make an offer.
The buyer, a woman looking for a city pad, made the highest bid of $1.115 million before negotiations began.
“The vendors were happy after the sale,” Doherty said.
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