Melbourne auctions: Investor buys home of Brunswick East dance troupe
The home of the artist collective known for dancing in their front yard to ’80s music each day to alleviate lockdown blues sold after auction to an investor on Saturday.
The four, known as The Wholesome Hour, have been performing in front of their rented home in Brunswick East for months every day at 4pm but have been worried the sale might bring the beloved show to a close.
“When it rains and we can’t perform in the front yard … people are sad,” dancer Kimberley Twiner, of the Brunswick East Entertainment Festival, said. “They message us and tell us they’re sad.
“What we’ve been doing here on this front lawn is a profound thing for our community. We’ve had so many things like notes and letters of gratitude and gifts and people just being so grateful that this is happening.”
It was one of 57 auctions scheduled in Melbourne on Saturday.
By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 57.1 per cent from 28 reported results, while 5 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
The three-bedroom house on Nicholson Street was listed for sale with a quoted price guide of $1.5 million to $1.6 million. It is zoned for commercial and residential use, and attracted interest from investors and developers.
The auction was short, with Nelson Alexander auctioneer Kristian Lunardi taking just one bid of $1.47 million.
It passed in and then sold later to the sole bidder, an investor. Mr Lunardi would not disclose the exact price but said it did not move much from the buyer’s bid.
“[The buyer’s] not a developer … just an investor,” he said. “They can continue dancing for the foreseeable future.”
Ms Twiner still had reservations.
“There’s relief if we aren’t getting kicked out during these crazily uncertain times,” she said. “[But] there’s worry – will this person hike up the rent? Because if they do we are still gone.”
Ms Twiner said she was worried about artists not being able to live in the inner city, and feared the gentrification of her neighbourhood of five years.
“It’s all good, the people are good, but capitalism and gentrification need to be questioned regularly otherwise they’ll get away with all sorts of things,” she said.
In Carnegie, a three-bedroom townhouse sold to an owner-occupier for $1,132,000 at auction.
The home at 46A Morgan Street drew seven bidders. Its quoted price guide was $950,000 to $1,045,000 and its reserve $1.07 million.
The home sold for $62,000 more than its reserve after about 30 bids.
Ray White listing agent Josh Hommelhoff said the home did well at auction because of the tight market.
“There’s no stock and it’s a rare offering,” he said. “Being a subdivision on its own title and with no adjoining walls [made it popular] and it’s a great location.”
The sales come after a sharp rise in new home loan approvals was revealed in official figures on Friday. The value of new home loans soared 12.6 per cent in August from a month earlier as home buyers who delayed plans in the first lockdown scrambled to get into the market.
The impact of the second lockdown is likely to show up in next month’s data.
In Bentleigh East, a two-bedroom villa sold to a downsizer in another hot auction.
Ray White listing agent Leigh Kelepouris said there were seven bidders for the home at 2/6 Gowrie Street.
“The auction kicked off at $580,000 and then it sold for $783,000,” he said. “It was a corner-block subdivision and it was very neat and tidy for its age.”
Mr Kelepouris said the downsizer beat out several first-home buyers looking to get into the market.
“A lot of people want to stay in the area to be close to mum and dad,” he said. “We’re seeing a lot of first-home buyers jumping on things.
“[But] those people who sold before the second lockdown are trying to get back into the market quickly too.”
The brick villa had only had one owner since it was built and was listed with a price guide of $680,000 to $748,000.
Earlier in Coburg, a two-bedroom townhouse passed in with no bids.
The two-level property at 3/88 Munro Street had been popular before auction but Jellis Craig listing agent Kieran Moloney said it had struggled with an influx of competing listings.
“The campaign itself had more than 30 groups come through in two weeks and we sent out 13 copies of the contract,” he said. “We had a big backlog of buyers ready to go.
“But it was a combination of a lot of listings coming online and now that’s distracted buyers. We lost them as more came on.
“It will be interesting to see what happens to auctions during November and December.”
Mr Moloney had listed the home for a private sale with a price of $625,000, which he said was good value for the property.
“[A first-home buyer] will pay barely any duty at that price,” he said. “Our company just sold a townhouse about two weeks ago at 2/6 Blair Street, Coburg for $677,000, and that’s a very similar property.”
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