Melbourne auctions: New build on The Castle site snapped up for $628,000
There was very little serenity in Dagonet Street, Strathmore, as a townhouse that stood on the site once occupied by the famous weatherboard home from Australian movieThe Castle went under the hammer.
It was one of 1,400 auctions held on Saturday, the first super Saturday of the year.
By evening, Domain Group had recorded a 75.1 per cent clearance rate from 1,032 reported results.
Battling to be heard over wind, rain and hail, Barry Plant auctioneer and agent Paul Filippone rattled off one-liners inspired by the 1997 movie, where a family battles the compulsory acquisition of their home, their castle.
“Surely you all have the vibe by now,” he said while appealing for more bids for 2/3 Dagonet Street, riffing off the classic Dennis Denuto line.
But the big screen connection didn’t help sell the home, as winning bidder Poonam Rajesh had never heard of the film before dropping $628,000 on the two-bedroom property, her first property purchase.
“The reason why I wanted the house is quite different, yeah. I was just focused on the school and the transportation time,” she said. “We moved to Melbourne three-and-a-half years ago and we have really been through some tough times, so now it’s kind of a payback.
“When you’re able to do something for yourself and your kids, it’s all worth it.”
Ms Rajesh will live in her castle with her husband and son.
Mr Filippone said he was a fan of the film and was thrilled to have achieved what he said was a fair price for the home.
“For what it is, for where it is, I think it’s a great result for all parties.”
The actual house from the movie, pool room and all, was shifted to Beechworth in north-eastern Victoria in 2017.
Earlier in Thornbury, a three-bedroom cottage sold during a competitive auction, with four buyers vying for the keys.
The weatherboard home at 9 Gladhall Avenue backed onto a park, which Jellis Craig auctioneer and agent Nigel Harry told prospective buyers was its killer feature.
“If Thornbury had a beachfront, this would be it,” he quipped in his pre-auction spiel.
Mr Harry was quoting a price guide of $950,000 to $1,045,000 for the home. Bidding opened at the bottom of the range and quickly climbed.
Nearly 40 bids later, the property sold for $1,178,000. The buyers were a young family upgrading from a smaller home, Mr Harry said.
Despite the huge number of auctions on Saturday, he said there were still not enough homes to sell.
“I think a result like this just really underpins the massive undersupply of options for buyers, particularly just south of that price point of $1.1 million,” he said.
Mr Harry was hopeful super Saturday would be a success and cement the strength of the property market for the rest of the year.
“Today’s going to be a really big test of exactly how strong the market is,” he said. “I expect to see demand continue right up until the end of the year.”
Wakelin Property Advisory director Jarrod McCabe said a number of strong results across Melbourne on Saturday indicated that the market would stay buoyant until Christmas.
“There’s a lot of buyers still around and it’ll be interesting to see if the clearance rate holds up,” he said. “This time of year the clearance rate typically starts to drop off but we’re just not seeing that at the moment.”
Mr McCabe said there was so much demand, a super Saturday auction weekend wasn’t enough to dent buyer enthusiasm.
“You’re seeing six or seven people bidding on properties,” he said. “You’re only losing one buyer per property. There’s a few more missing out who will move onto other homes in the following weeks.”
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