Melbourne auctions: Garry Lyon and Nicky Brownless sell Armadale home in pre-Christmas auction rush
The Armadale home of former Melbourne Football Club captain and media identity Garry Lyon and his partner Nicky Brownless has sold under the hammer for $3.37 million.
The high-profile couple listed their four-bedroom, three-bathroom home at 12 Ashleigh Road for sale late last month with a price guide of $3 million to $3.3 million.
It was one of 951 auctions scheduled in Melbourne on Saturday, the most since the pandemic hit, as buyers and vendors make up for lost time after the extended lockdown that pushed the city’s property market into hibernation.
By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 72.1 per cent from 774 reported results, while 79 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
Situated in a quiet street, just off High Street, the auction got under way with a vendor’s bid of $3 million. After a slow start, three parties, including a young couple who live on the same street, eventually battled it out for the Federation home.
Another couple, with a young child, held the highest bid when auctioneer Andrew Hayne from Marshall White went inside to consult his well-known vendors, returning a short time later to declare the house was on the market. With no further bids, the couple went inside to sign the contract.
The former host of The Footy Show and Ms Brownless bought the light-filled, renovated home with an upstairs study in 2018 for $3.18 million, public records show.
Earlier on Saturday, an unrenovated, double-fronted Victorian on a spacious 514 square metres in Northcote sold at a hotly contested auction for $1,769,000, well above the $1.6 million reserve.
Listing agent Daiman Kane from Fletchers Balywn North said the three-bedroom deceased estate at 4 Wardrop Grove had attracted interest from buyers looking to renovate, rebuild and also sub-divide.
“It’s a big property and it’s got some amazing views over the Dandenong Ranges, so it did attract a lot of interest from a mix of buyers,” he said.
A woman who currently lives close by eventually outbid three other parties and intends to renovate and live in the house, Mr Kane said.
“She’s very happy. The previous owner had lived there for 60-plus years,” he added.
Wakelin Property Advisory director and buyers advocate Jarrod McCabe, who attended several auctions on Saturday, including one at 414 George Street in Fitzroy, said “it feels like spring out there” due to the large numbers of attendees and competitive bidding.
“I guess when you have a good two months of Melbourne’s peak spring auction period all but wiped out, you do expect a busy charge to Christmas,” he said.
“This year, we’re seeing that end-of-year rush to either snap up a home or sell one, going right up to Christmas with auctions still going ahead next weekend and I even know of at least one that is happening on the Tuesday before Christmas.”
At 414 George Street, nine bidders vied for the double-storey, two-bedroom terrace, which was listed with a price guide of $1.2 million to $1.3 million.
Bidding started strongly at $1.25 million, and the home sold well over the reserve for $1.56 million to a young owner-occupier.
Mr Wakelin said “the highly competitive bidding was mostly from couples in their 30s to mid-40s”.
“There is a lot of activity out there and the results that we are seeing suggests that confidence in the market is going to continue right up to Christmas and into the new year,” he said.
Over in Balaclava, six bidders keen to secure a new home before the end of the year fought it out for a renovated, two-bedroom apartment at 38/11 The Avenue.
The ground-floor apartment, with a private courtyard and a price guide of $625,000 to $675,000, was popular among first-home buyers keen to get into Melbourne’s rebounding property market.
It eventually sold to a buyer who had sold his previous property prior to Victoria’s strict lockdown and had been looking for a new home since.
Listing agent Besim Kanacevic from Belle Property Albert Park said he had noticed a rush of first-home buyers seeking loan pre-approval in the lead up to Christmas.
“What we’re noticing is that a lot of young people who were able to keep working this year have had a good opportunity to save while they were in lockdown,” he said.
With added incentives like the first-home-buyers grant and reductions to stamp duty, young people “are keen to buy now”.
“They don’t want to wait. Whereas in the past, people might shop around for 12 months and then get pre-approval, we are seeing a lot of first-home buyers rushing to get their pre-approval so they’re ready to buy straight away,” he said.
“I think it’s something we’re going to keep seeing into next year as well.”
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