Teacher outbids three other first-home buyers to buy Footscray apartment

It was a battle of the first-home buyers at the auction of a three-bedroom apartment in Footscray on Saturday morning, with a young couple renting in nearby Spotswood securing the keys.

Advertised with a price guide between $505,000 and $550,000, the property at 5/51 Stirling Street had been popular with budget-conscious investors and young buyers looking for their first home.

The apartment, on the top floor of a four-storey brick complex in a quiet residential street, was the only three-bedroom unit in the block of 11 apartments and its lounge, kitchen and a bedroom offered city views.

Auctioneer Matthew John, of Biggin & Scott, said the apartment had defied current market trends, which he attributed to its size, views, location and price point.

“It’s the sort of property that regardless of the market, it will always have interest,” Mr John said. “There were probably eight people that were in a position where they could bid today.”

School teacher Kate Nye-Butler attended the auction with her partner’s father. “We’ve been looking for maybe three months,” she told Domain after the auction. “We’ve seen a handful of places and this is the second one we’ve bid on.”

Ms Nye-Butler, 29, fended off bidding from three other hopefuls in front of a crowd of 50 onlookers.

Buyers’ advocate Cate Bakos placed the first bid of $500,000, countered with a $510,000 bid from a young man surrounded by his friends and family. Ms Nye-Butler offered $520,000 and went back and forth with the young man until a fourth bidder, another young man, entered the mix at $570,000.

But it was here the auction slowed as both the first and second bidders stood down. Bidding dropped to $5000 and $1000 rises before the hammer came down at $587,000 – $27,000 over reserve.

Ms Nye-Butler admitted she had gone over her limit. “But I think it will pay off,” she said. “I think Footscray will continue to gentrify and become more expensive, I don’t think it will go backwards.”

The couple had been looking at smaller, two-bedroom apartments in the inner-west and inner-north for a similar price, Ms Nye-Butler said. They were both attracted to the Stirling Street property because it was larger than most other apartments they had inspected, and enjoyed plenty of natural light.

The Melton high-school teacher said she believed housing affordability was a “huge issue” and her ability to buy property was only possible because of the support of family members.

“We were lucky in that both our parents were happy to be guarantors and had that not been the case, we wouldn’t have been looking to do this for a long time,” she said. “I think this is the kind of thing that is accessible to people with upper and middle-class backgrounds.”

Title records show the vendors bought the apartment in 1999 for $165,000. It had been an investment property in recent years.

There were 996 auctions scheduled across Melbourne on Saturday. By evening, Domain Group had recorded a 48 per cent clearance rate from 697 reported results.

The citywide clearance rate has consistently fallen below 50 per cent in recent weeks as buyers gain an upper hand in cooling property market conditions.