Big results for Melbourne auctions after long weekend lull

Melbourne’s auction results are feeling like they are “back to normal” for some agents, but a lack of new homes for sale is still taking its toll.

After a quiet weekend because of the AFL grand final, auction numbers bounced back this weekend with 716 auctions .

Melbourne’s preliminary clearance rate was 74.6 per cent after 516 reported results by Sunday.

It followed last month’s strong results with Domain’s latest auction report card revealing the clearance rate in September was 71 per cent. 

This was the highest point since July 2017, Domain economist Trent Wiltshire said. 

“Rising prices and much stronger clearance rates show that the Melbourne market has rebounded from the 2017-19 slump,” Mr Wiltshire said.

He said clearance rates had rebounded from 50 per cent in early 2019 and the extreme lows of 40 per cent late last year, and predicted prices would rise in coming months.

“Falling interest rates and the likelihood of further cuts to come, combined with changes to lending rules, have provided a boost to the market and suggest further price increases are likely,” he said.

Prices already look to be rising, including in Melbourne’s inner west with a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home at 12 Bilston Street, Seddon, selling $100,000 above reserve for $1.08 million.

The home had an asking price range between $900,000 and $960,000. A family, who had just returned from an overseas trip for the school holidays, flew in to snap up the home.

Marina Condic, of Jas Stephens Real Estate, said they were one of the three bidders who fought for the keys.

While properties in the west were selling well, a lack of new homes for sale was affecting the local market, she said.

“The fact is there is not a huge amount of stock out there, so the properties we do have are selling quite well because of it,” Ms Condic said.

Families were the main bidders for a three-bedroom, one-bathroom home in the inner-north suburb of Thornbury.

The home, at 228 Mansfield Street, sold to a young couple, who were one of the five bidders wanting to buy.

It sold for $1,375,000, well above the $1.15 million to $1.25 million advertised price range.

McGrath Northcote’s Anthony De Iesi said the vendors, who had owned the property since 1987 and had been renting it out for many years, were looking to sell as the market improved.

“The vendors were extremely happy,” Mr De Iesi said.

In Richmond, results from weekend auctions were just as buoyant. Biggin & Scott Richmond’s director Russell Cambridge said the weekend was busy.

A three-bedroom, one bathroom home at 37 Highett Street, Richmond, sold for $1.9 million at the upper end of the advertised price range.

The the older-style brick home had been owned by the same family for 60 years, and was bought by another family that plans to tear it down and rebuild.

“It’s quite a lovely story,” Mr Cambridge said. “One generation ends their time there and a new one begins.”

Another property, at 28 Madden Grove, Richmond, sold for $1.43 million – $80,000 above reserve. 

The three-bedroom, two-bathroom home was also bought by a family looking to move to the area.

“It was a terrific result,” Mr Cambridge said. “It felt like we were back to the normal market.”

While families dominated home sales, first-home buyers won the keys to a two-bedroom apartment in St Kilda East.

The property, at 1/57 Westbury Street, was priced between $500,000 and $540,000 and sold for $616,000 under the hammer.

Rohan White, of Buxton Port Phillip, said the apartment market around St Kilda had improved vastly since last year.

“The $500,000 to $800,000 price range is now really, really, strong,” Mr White said.

While the weekend’s results were strong, a private auction of the West Penthouse at 193 Domain Road, South Yarra, was one of the best for the year.

The three-bedroom apartment sold for a gob-smacking $2.6 million above reserve for $7.6 million on September 24. 

According to those at the Marshall White Stonnington auction, there were three bidders fighting for the keys The winner was a couple looking to downsize.