First-home buyer nabs Carlton terrace at auction for $1.5 million
No one wanted to make the first bid, but the auction of a Carlton terrace eventually turned into a hard-fought race that ended in a $1.5 million sale.
Four parties raised their hands for the two-bedroom Victorian house at 47 Pitt Street, set on 218 square metres around the corner from Lygon Street’s pizzerias.
It was one of 1303 auctions scheduled in Melbourne on Saturday. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 63.7 per cent from 950 reported results, while 110 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
When auctioneer John Harrington called for an opening bid, he was met with silence from the crowd of 30-plus.
He suggested an opening bid of $1.3 million, the bottom end of the price guide of $1.3 million to $1.4 million, before making a vendor bid at the same level and then calling it three times.
Just when the property looked about to pass in, three hands went up at once.
The price then jumped in a mix of increments from $50,000 down to $1000 offers closer to the end, and the home sold under the hammer for $1.5 million to a father and first-home-buyer son duo.
Harrington, of Harrington Earl Estate Agents, said the seller had owned the home since 1973 and lived in it first before leasing it out later. His reserve price was a “realistic” $1,325,000.
All the bidders this time were owner-occupiers, he said.
“Nobody wants to start it, of course, but it worked out well,” he said.
“That first-home-buyer market, whether that’s at $500,000 or whether that’s to $1.5 million as we had today, the first-home buyers are certainly out there at the moment.”
In Hawthorn, a two-bedroom Art Deco apartment with a courtyard also sold above its price guide to first-home buyers, fetching $950,000.
Five bidders competed for 1/18 Riversdale Road, which had a price guide of $750,000 to $800,000. The reserve was set at the top end of the range.
A young couple saw the home for the first time that morning and then bought it, The Agency Boroondara’s Luke Saville said, adding that the vendors are “stoked”.
“AAA real estate is still performing really well, as it does in any market,” he said.
“There is not much supply for that type of property.
“The properties where there is a dime a dozen of them, they are the ones that have really been hit hard.”
In Fitzroy North, a three-bedroom house with north-facing backyard and scope for a makeover flew at auction and sold for $2.26 million.
Set on 302 square metres of land, 5 Newry Street attracted three bidders who fought intensely and eventually sold to a professional woman who would not be intimidated by the tactics of a male buyer’s advocate, Nelson Alexander director Arch Staver said.
The home was on the market last year with another agency and Staver said it attracted an offer of about $2 million before the buyers decided they weren’t ready to sell.
He described the market as “quite patchy. Very good in some instances, extraordinarily disappointing in others.
“Some houses we genuinely feel are great value for money, some buyers are ignoring.”
In South Melbourne, eight bidders competed for a four-bedroom Victorian terrace in need of renovation that had been vacant for at least the past four years.
The home at 131 Nelson Road fetched an opening offer of $1.65 million and sold for $2.24 million to a local owner-occupier after a relatively quick auction, Marshall White’s Sarah Wood said.
She declined to reveal the reserve but said the proceeds would be donated to charity, including one of the major hospitals and the National Gallery of Victoria.
Back on the north side, eight bidders also competed for a contemporary home in Coburg North that sold for $871,000 to an owner-occupier moving from Sydney for work.
The price guide was $700,000 to $770,000 for the three-bedder at 34 Pixel Circuit, and Ray White Preston’s Ian Dempsey said the seller was hoping for a price at about the top of the range.
He said the recent interest-rate hike and election had proved hurdles over the past couple of weekends but he thought buyers were ready to make decisions now that the election was over.
“There was a lot of inspections today, a lot of attendance at auctions,” he said.
“That freeze in the market that was around, buyers have released today. They have got to buy something because their finance approval is running out.”
Buyer’s advocate Jarrod McCabe felt any post-election confidence was more on the part of sellers than buyers. He attended two auctions on Saturday that passed in on vendor bids and thought both would have attracted competition six to 12 months ago.
The Wakelin Property Advisory director went to 71 Rowe Street in Fitzroy North, which he described as one of the best streets in the suburb, and said it passed in on a vendor bid of $1.65 million against a quote range of $1.6 million to $1.7 million.
He also went to 133 Roseneath Street, Clifton Hill, which had a quote of $1,575,000 to $1.65 million and passed in on a vendor bid at the bottom end of the range.
“There would have been people falling over themselves late last year to buy that property,” McCabe said.
“[The market] is continuing to slow down, which it has been for a few weeks now.”
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