Melbourne auction clearance rates strong for third week in a row

Melbourne has backed up results from last week’s auctions with another preliminary auction clearance rate above 73 per cent. 

It’s the third week in a row Melbourne’s preliminary rates have been this high, off the back of news that the property market is beginning to turn around.

Domain economist Trent Wiltshire said said Melbourne’s overall clearance rate for the month of July was at its highest point since October 2017.

Mr Wiltshire said across Melbourne’s regions, auction clearance rates were highest in the inner east, at 80 per cent, and the inner south, at 72 per cent. 

But he said auction numbers were still low because vendors were still not willing to try their luck.

“While most signs point to a market turnaround, the number of auctions are 35 per cent lower than this time last year,” Mr Wiltshire said.

“We’ll see more auctions in spring as usual, but we’ll only see a big rise in auction numbers and sales once prices start increasing,” he said.

Some of the biggest results for the weekend happened in Melbourne’s inner-west suburbs, including Newport.

A four-bedroom, two-bathroom property at 44 Alma Terrace sold under the hammer for $2.55 million. The price guide for the home was between $2.45 million and $2.65 million.

Wayne Elly, of Greg Hocking Elly Partners, said there were four aggressive bidders in a crowd of 200 people.

“The home was a California bungalow with a very modern design update out the back,” he said.

A local family were the successful bidders and were planning to live there.

Elly said low-stock levels were behind bigger crowds at auctions such as these.

“There’s a real lack of quality stock at the moment, that probably isn’t going to change straight away,” Elly said.

On the other side of the city, a three-bedroom home at 437 Tooronga Road, Hawthorn East, sold for $1,535,000, some $215,000 above the reserve.

Marshall White Stonnington director and auctioneer John Bongiorno said the buyers were a family looking to be closer to schools in the area.

“There’s still an underlying strength in the market,” Bongiorno said of the weekend’s results. “It seems to be rebounding in time for spring.”

In South Melbourne, a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home at 333 Moray Street was sold for $1,723,000 by agents at Greg Hocking Holdsworth.

The sale price was $123,000 above reserve, according to buyer advocate Frank Valentic, who attended the auction. 

The property attracted five bidders who fought it out for the keys, with a professional couple snatching the winning bid, Valentic said.

“They were all local bidders, and there were no investors,” he said.

A property at 7 Finningley Drive, Tullamarine, had its sale price sit well above the reserve of $690,000. The four-bedroom, two-bathroom home sold for $782,000.

Ray White Gladstone Park director Malek Younan called the result “magic”.

“Although emotional for the family to see the home pass hands, one of the sons of the vendor said the price was very welcome as it would ‘give mum a more comfortable life’,” Younan said.

The buyers were a family from Pascoe Vale wanting to make it their family home.

While bids were flying in Tullamarine, first-home buyers were putting up their hands at an auction at 174 Elizabeth Drive, Rosebud. 

The three-bedroom home attracted 100 people for the sale. Selling agent from Ray White Rosebud, Michelle Bennie, said she was surprised by the size of the crowd.

 “It is a little unusual for Rosebud,” Bennie said. 

Although there were many first-home buyers bidding, in the end a local couple, planning to flip the home, snapped it up for $578,000.

“It went to a middle-aged couple, who plan to live in the house while they build a couple of townhouses nearby. Then, they plan to renovate this one and sell that,” Bennie said.