Melbourne auctions: Prahran art deco apartment passes in after reaching $900,000
A young home buyer, who arrived mid-way through the auction of a two-bedroom art deco apartment in Prahran on Saturday morning, bought the charming period apartment with her partner for $930,000 just hours after it was passed in.
The couple saw the apartment for the first time on Saturday afternoon, after arriving too late to view the property before the auction got under way.
The residence at 2/203 Dandenong Road was one of 1075 auctions scheduled in Melbourne on Saturday.
By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 79.4 per cent from 870 reported results.
Next weekend is expected to be even busier, with more than 1550 auctions scheduled and some agents observing a “second spring” despite a run of public holidays coming up, including Easter and Anzac Day.
Three active bidders, and a dozen or more interested onlookers, gathered in the small garden off Dandenong Road as listing agent David Sciola from Jellis Craig Stonnington explained that the vendors had bought the home eight years ago, “raising two kids and a dog” but that it was now “time to move on.”
The vendors couldn’t have picked a better time to sell, with the nation’s property prices surging. Melbourne recorded a 75.3 per cent clearance rate in February, the highest since April 2017.
Mr Sciola said this particular art deco home, on the ground floor of a boutique block of five apartments and with a courtyard on the title, “was competing with single-fronted homes but with a better price point”.
The apartment, built in 1940, was listed with a price guide of $800,000 to $880,000 and bidding opened right on $800,000.
Three bidders battled it out in $10,000 increments before it soared past the top end of the price guide.
In the meantime, a fourth interested party walked into the courtyard, asking fellow agent Adam Walker, if she could view the property.
With the vendors inside and bidding already under way, she was forced to sit it out.
A father bidding on behalf of his daughter – a first-home buyer – placed a bid of $900,000 soon after and Mr Sciola passed the property in.
After the auction, Mr Sciola said he expected a deal to be inked later in the day.
What he didn’t expect was for the late arrival and her partner to snap up the property for $930,000 after viewing it on Saturday afternoon and putting in an offer immediately.
“It’s a little bit unusual for that to happen,” Mr Sciola said. “But what we’re finding is that a lot of buyers are automatically adding 10 per cent to the top end of the quoted price range but when a property gets passed in and [when] they realise that we’re actually selling close to that range there is strong interest.
“These particular buyers, a young professional couple had seen the property online but only walked through it for the first time today. They put in an offer on the spot.”
In Surrey Hills, a stunning three-bedroom Californian bungalow on a 723-square-metre corner block and within the school zone for Camberwell High and Canterbury Girls’ Secondary College, sold under the hammer for $2.155 million, $455,000 above the reserve.
Listing agent Tim Heavyside from Fletchers Camberwell said four active bidders pushed the final sale price for the home, at 53 Suffolk Road, well above the $1.7 million reserve.
“The vendors have been there for approximately 12 years, and it has quite a large garden, so they are ready to downsize, and they’re very happy with the outcome,” he said.
The successful bidders were a young couple looking to upsize.
Mr Heavyside said the strong result reflected the intense competition for houses in the area, as home buyers looked to secure a home before the fast-moving market runs away even further.
“The market is rapidly increasing at the moment, and while from a vendor’s perspective it is heaven, from a buyer’s perspective, it is tricky because they’re aware that if they don’t buy now, then prices are going to be higher next month and even higher the following month and so on,” he said.
He does expect more stock to come on to the market in the coming months to help meet some of that buyer demand.
“But there are still plenty of opportunities for buyers,” he said. “I think we’re starting to see more and more vendors who are comfortable putting their properties on the market.
“I find activity breeds activity. So, if people are seeing prices going up, as a seller, you are more comfortable putting your property on the market, and as a buyer, you are perhaps more prepared to step out of your comfort zone and pay that little bit more,” he said.
In Taylor’s Lakes, in Melbourne’s north-west, a double-storey, four-bedroom home on a 675-square-metre block with a children’s cubby house thrown in was hotly contested by six bidders, including one online.
Bidding for the modern brick home at 14 Tasman Crescent opened at $700,000 – well below the listed price guide of $860,000 to $890,000.
Three parties took part in the early bidding, raising their hands in $10,000 increments to reach $730,000 before a fourth bidder jumped in with a bold $900,000 bid.
But it didn’t end there. A total of five parties continued to push up the price in $10,000 increments in a fast-paced auction before another bidder joined in with a $1 million bid.
From there, the pace slowed with a series of $2000 and $3000 bids before a young couple secured the large family home with a bid of $1.02 million – $100,000 above the reserve.
In Tullamarine, a renovated three-bedroom family home with a large backyard and a Hills Hoist sold under the hammer for $745,000 – $95,000 over the top end of the price guide of $610,000 to $650,000.
The successful bidder of the home at 38 Catherine Avenue – a Melbourne-based investor – outbid three first-home buyers for the popular property.
First-home buyers are currently eligible for a $10,000 grant for properties that are $750,000 or less.
Listing agent Dom Zampaglione from Ray White Gladstone Park said owner-occupiers, and in particular first-home buyers, were driving much of the “huge demand” for homes in the area at the moment.
He said investors were far less active in the current market.
“We are seeing a lot of first-home buyers right now,” he said. “And just generally, we are seeing massive numbers of groups coming through homes and some really competitive auctions.
“The market is very tight, there’s not a lot of stock but there’s a lot of buyers and that’s what’s driving up prices.”
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