Armadale townhouse rockets $400,000 above reserve on super Saturday of auctions

A single-level townhouse in a prized Armadale location rocketed $400,000 above reserve on Saturday as Melbourne’s auction market produced mixed results for vendors.

Six bidders, mostly baby boomers, contested the architect-designed residence at 5 Edward Street. On the market at $1.42 million, the spacious two-bedroom property, with a two-car garage, drew a flurry of bids before selling under the hammer for $1.82 million.

A big roll call of 1454 auctions was scheduled on the city’s latest super Saturday auction weekend. The Domain Group posted a clearance rate of 48 per cent from the 1085 results reported by real estate agents.

It was the third weekend in a row that the clearance rate has slipped below 50 per cent.

But despite the sluggish sales rate, crowds of between 30 and 120 onlookers attended many auctions, and much sizing-up of the market took place.

The cut-through trend is a flight to quality, as A-grade properties (renovated, in quiet streets, near transport) in inner and bayside areas sharply outperformed lesser-light homes. The same discernment was on also show in the middle-ring suburbs this weekend.

Buyer’s advocate Adam Woledge said the Armadale townhouse performed strongly because it was a hard-to-find property type in a top spot.

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“It was a Nicholas Day-designed townhouse: light and bright inside, and no steps,” he said. “You just do not get those properties coming up for sale so often nowadays.”

Woledge, of Woledge Hatt, said the auction kicked off on a “silly” low bid of $1.2 million, but the two main bidders soon pushed the property above $1.7 million before it was knocked down for $1.82 million.

The Marshall White sale was one of several auctions in the inner-eastern and south-eastern suburbs at the weekend that pointed to the rise of a “quality wedge” in the market.

“The prices for scarce, good-quality properties are still climbing,” Woledge said. “But, if a property is not quite right, buyers are just not engaging at all.”

A large Edwardian house in need of some TLC, at 7 Kingston Street, Malvern East, punched high on Saturday.

The auction of the Jellis Craig-listed home opened on a $4.1 million vendor bid. Two bidders then took the 941-square-metre property to an on-the-market $4.525 million. But, the house, opposite Malvern East’s popular Central Park, pushed far higher, selling for $4.85 million.

A Hamptons-style house on 970 square metres in Canterbury tossed up an upbeat result, too.

Auctioned by Kay & Burton’s Scott Patterson in front of 100 people, the five-bedroom house at 6 Winson Green Road initially drew two bidders who pushed the price to $3.7 million, well up on the $3.5 million reserve.

An observer at the auction said a third bidder then entered the ring. This couple won the keys when the three-level timber home sold under the hammer for $3.8 million – six times more than the $590,000 the property commanded when it last changed hands in 2001.

At 49 Cruickshank Street, Port Melbourne, an “auction after the auction” was held when four prospective buyers, who had indicated interest in the cottage up for grabs, did not bid.

Greg Hocking Holdsworth’s Sam Paynter said the home was quoted at $1.8 million to $1.98 million but sold for slightly above the range – at $1.99 million – after post-auction talks.

Paynter said many buyers were annoyed when they were required to compete against others in post-auction negotiations.

“Three of the parties put in offers post-auction,” he said. “It’s a sign of the times that buyers want to play it cool, but sometimes they end up out-negotiating themselves. The situation post-auction can get pretty tricky – there’s one winner.”

This weekend, the southern suburbs produced some standout results.

In Black Rock, four bidders contested a house at 8 Gordon Crescent. Buxton declared the property on the market at $2.425 million, but it sold for $205,000 more – $2.63 million – a clear pointer that segments of Melbourne’s housing market are far from being in the doldrums.