Melbourne auctions: First-home buyer beats an investor to nab Ivanhoe villa
A first-home buyer won the keys to an Ivanhoe villa after beating three others, including an investor, at auction on Saturday.
Bidding for the two-bedroom brick home at 8/360 Upper Heidelberg Road began at $680,000, the bottom of the quoted price range.
It was one of 135 scheduled auctions on Saturday, on the usually quiet Queen’s Birthday long weekend.
By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 56.3 per cent from 92 reported results.
Nelson Alexander auctioneer and listing agent Spiros Karagiannidis took increments of $10,000 from four bidders as the home quickly reached $740,000, the reserve and top of the range.
From there, two first-home buyers and an investor, who had only just seen the property for the first time, traded smaller bids until the home sold at $755,000 to a young woman, bidding with an older family member.
Some first-home buyers have struggled to get finance due to COVID-19’s impact on job security, but Mr Karagiannidis said he was more interested to see an investor bidding.
“It depends on if they’re pre-approved,” he said. “Banks are taking a lot longer than what they were.
“I’m surprised an investor was even bidding. Ninety per cent of everyone who’s looked through has been a home buyer.”
Single-level villas were popular, Mr Karagiannidis said, and buyers were generally willing to compete hard for them.
“They’re rare as hen’s teeth, particularly this size in this type of complex where there’s only 12,” he said. “This is one of my first auctions back [since restrictions were lifted], I’m happy with how well it went.
“What’s driving [the interest] is there’s still not a lot for sale.”
Elsewhere, a three-bedroom house in Carnegie passed in at auction but sold soon after.
Three bidders fought it out for the family home at 66 Neville Street, two of whom attended the onsite auction while the other bid online.
Proceedings kicked off with a vendor bid of $1 million, below the quoted price guide of $1.05 million to $1.15 million.
The price jumped in $25,000 increments, then in rises of $10,000.
At $1.21 million the auction paused for a brief consultation with the vendor. When no further bids were placed, the property passed in.
It sold in post-auction negotiations for $1,225,000, Ray White Carnegie selling agent and auctioneer Tom Grieve confirmed.
The hybrid in-person and online model allowed one interested party to bid despite going away for the long weekend, he said.
“I probably prefer either an online or an on-site,” he said. “But it added something extra to the auction.”
Interest came from second-home buyers and small families moving out of the inner suburbs, although he said it was too early to see a trend of inner-city buyers snapping up more spacious homes post-lockdown as so few homes had been listed for sale.
Earlier in Richmond, a three-bedroom terrace sold after some negotiations, to a home buyer from Glen Huntly.
The home at 18 Neptune Street passed in with one bid, but sold soon after for $1.22 million.
Nelson Alexander agent Cameron Ingram said despite the vendor bringing their expectations down, it was a good sale for all involved.
“Both parties are rapt,” he said. “Their reserve was set at the top of the range, at $1.3 million, so there was a bit of compromise by the vendor.”
Mr Ingram said the buyers were upgrading from a smaller unit, and were happy with the space offered by their new home.
“There’s no car park but they had the permits. And it was quite spacious inside and a lot of the buyers were impressed with that,” he said. “It had some art deco features, too.”
In Coburg, a two-bedroom unit passed in with no bids.
Listing agent Matthew Schroeder said he’d had trouble with first-home buyers struggling to get finance arranged before the auction for 104/5 Wardens Walk.
“We had some good numbers though, a lot of good feedback about the size and the location,” he said. “We did have a few register online but we did have a few pull out last minute because of financing issues.
“I think it’s a bit of a delay in the normal process. A lot of people are taking a lot longer to get pre-approved, it’s putting a bit of a handbrake on things.”
Mr Schroder has listed the property for sale with the same previously quoted price guide of $440,000 to $480,000.
In Caulfield, Greg Hocking Holdsworth’s Simon Dale had a similar issue.
“We had 10 or 15 people there. I asked for bids, and there was no bidding,” he said. “I put in [a vendor] bid of $600,000 and passed it in, then they came to me afterwards.”
Mr Ingram was still in negotiations for the two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit at 103/687 Glen Huntly Road on Saturday afternoon, and the vendors had since priced it at $615,000.
“The price is low for the property,” he said. “The last sale for two-bed, two-bath in the same complex was $625,000.
“It’s excellent buying at that level. I priced it at $650,000 before the pandemic.”
We recommend
States
Capital Cities
Capital Cities - Rentals
Popular Areas
Allhomes
More
