Melbourne auctions: Grand Princes Hill family home sells for $560,000 above reserve
A period home on a large block in Princes Hill, just three kilometres from the CBD, sold for $560,000 above its reserve price at auction on Saturday.
The generous home at 25-35 Garton Street, built in the 1890s and owned by the same family for the past 50 years, sold for $4.56 million after three parties, including two represented by buyer’s agents, competed for the keys.
It was one of 832 homes scheduled to go to auction across Melbourne on Saturday.
By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 73.1 per cent from 654 reported results.
Bidding for the four-bedroom home, set on a 602-square-metre block and once used as a boarding house, opened at $3.8 million, with a buyer’s advocate placing the bid at the bottom end of the quoted price guide of $3.8 million to $4.1 million.
The price quickly soared above the $4 million reserve as an owner-occupier and another buyer’s agent, representing a young family, joined in the bidding.
But it was a final bid of $4.56 million which eventually secured the home for the young family, who live in Queensland, but plan to relocate to Melbourne.
Listing agent Glenn Bartlett from Woodards said the vendors, who were selling the house “with somewhat of a heavy heart”, were thrilled with the result.
“The vendors are a lovely couple who are retiring to the country to be closer to their family,” Mr Bartlett said.
The new owners were originally from Melbourne but have been living in Queensland for the past 15 years.
“They’re not coming back immediately, but I understand they plan to move in eventually,” Mr Bartlett said. “They have an affinity for the area, with one of the new owners having attended Melbourne Uni.”
He said he wasn’t surprised by the competitive nature of the auction, given properties of that size didn’t come up too often in the area.
A crowd of about 40 people watched the sale despite the freezing conditions. Mr Bartlett said it had been an unusually busy weekend, considering it was the middle weekend of the school holidays.
“The market certainly isn’t taking any sort of a breather,” he said. “Because of the recent lockdown we had, some auctions that were scheduled for the end of June have been pushed back to the start of July.
“So normally this would be a much quieter weekend because of the school holidays but not this year; the market just hasn’t been able to take a spell.”
In Highett, in Melbourne’s south-east, an “unliveable” weatherboard home on a large 661-square-metre corner allotment attracted four registered bidders who pushed the final selling price to $1.54 million.
The deceased estate at 25 Mary Avenue attracted a mix of owner-occupiers keen to knock it down and build their dream home, as well as two brothers with plans to develop two separate dwellings on the generous parcel of land.
Despite being on the market for just 17 days, the three-bedroom property soared $290,000 above the reserve of $1.25 million.
Listing agent Matt Morris from Ray White Ferntree Gully said the brothers were the winning bidders.
“It was a really good result, especially considering it was only on the market for a short period of time,” he said.
“I had this property ready to go before we went into the most recent lockdown … so as soon as things opened up again the estate was keen to get it sold as soon as possible.”
Mr Morris said buyers had also been in favour of shorter sales campaigns, as they were becoming increasingly desperate to buy a home, and were tired of being shut out of open for inspections and on-site auctions each time the city goes into lockdown.
“We have actually been doing quite a few 17-day campaigns for a lot of our properties because the market is that good – and for a lot of buyers four weeks on the market is too long for them to wait,” he said.
“Some buyers want to buy a property the first day you open it. So, for some buyers, even 17 days feels like an eternity in this market.”
In Abbotsford, a young local couple secured a trendy two-bedroom apartment in a stunning warehouse conversion, when they outbid two other parties for the stylish home.
The designer apartment in a former hat factory at 205/56 Nicholson Street attracted the interest of three young professional couples, who pushed the final selling price to $1,020,000 – $120,000 above the reserve.
It was listed with a price guide of $850,000 to $900,000.
Listing agent Elliot Gill from Jellis Craig Richmond said all the bidders were owner-occupiers keen to call the inner-city apartment with city views their own.
He said the vendors had a growing family and were “moving further east into a house.”
Mr Gill said it was business as usual in the inner suburbs of Richmond and Abbotsford, which don’t typically slow down for school holidays.
“A lot of the families in this area tend to have younger, pre-school age children so the market doesn’t tend to vary too much during the seasons,” he said.
However, he said they did bring “a few auctions forward to Wednesday night” ahead of the end of the financial year and the end of stamp duty savings, including a 25 per cent discount on properties under $1 million.
Meanwhile, in Moonee Ponds, a three-bedroom, Hawthorn brick home, built circa 1886, also sold well above its listed price guide of $1.5 million to $1.55 million.
The elegant period home at 10 Grace Street attracted three bidders who pushed the price to $1,905,000.
The vendors, who are downsizing, have owned the home for 28 years.
Listing agent Kieran Moloney from Jellis Craig Kensington said the home was bought by a local couple who had been “looking on and off” for some time for the “right home.”
Mr Moloney said he had experienced an unusually busy weekend for this time of year.
“We had seven auctions scheduled for today and we sold two beforehand, so it has been a busy day, considering it would normally be a quiet weekend with the school holidays,” he said.
“A lot of the auctions we had today were originally scheduled for June 19 or 26 and had to be pushed out because of lockdown.”
Mr Moloney expects the remainder of winter to be equally busy.
“I think we will have a busy winter because a lot of people are keen to get in and sell now on the off chance that we go into lockdown again,” he said.
“So, we are seeing quite a lot of buyers trying to get homes on to the market ASAP, rather than waiting for spring.”
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