Melbourne auctions: Stand-out houses smash their reserves by as much as $225,000 amid lack of stock
Buyers are paying hundreds of thousands more than the vendors’ asking price at auction for select prized properties due to the uncharacteristically low winter stock levels, agents say.
An inner-north couple forked out $225,000 more than the reserve for 12 Batman Street, Fitzroy North, after a hot auction on Saturday.
Bidding for the Victorian terrace opened at $900,000, below the quoted range of $950,000 to $1,045,000.
It quickly shot past the reserve of $1.05 million and then sold for $1,275,000.
Jellis Craig auctioneer and listing agent Sam Rigopolous said the five bidders made for a “pretty hard-fought” auction.
“There were a couple of people going for it until it hit the market, and once it was on the market a few people jumped in at various stages,” he said.
“But when you get five people bidding at an auction, that’s a pretty serious auction, plenty of people to fend off.”
As the hammer fell, the winning bidders seemed visibly relieved and overjoyed.
The pair had missed out on a few homes in the past couple of weeks, an experience that was becoming increasingly common for frustrated buyers, Mr Rigopolous said.
“They missed out on a place in Richmond, one in Thornbury,” he said. “If they missed out, they had another one to go to in Collingwood this afternoon.
“Not only has it been a slim market for stock options but it’s been very competitive over the last six weeks.”
Buyers could no longer afford to be too selective with locations, as quality homes in good spots were hard to come by, Mr Rigopolous said.
The sale of 12 Batman Street was one of 514 auctions held in Melbourne on Saturday.
By evening, Domain Group had recorded a 73.3 per cent clearance rate from 397 reported results.
Later in South Melbourne, another single-fronted Victorian attracted a large cohort of interested parties and a hefty final sale price.
Seven bidders put their hands up for the two-bedroom terrace at 1 Little Tribe Street, leaving Greg Hocking Holdsworth auctioneer Simon Gowling to take more than 30 bids.
Listing agent Callum Richardson said he priced the home conservatively.
“We’ve come off a period of time when the sales haven’t been that strong, that’s the main thing,” he said. “It’s off the main street as well, and the bathroom is off the living area, which gave us a few things to think about when pricing it.”
The auction opened with a bid of $850,000, well below the quoted price range of $970,000 to $1.05 million.
Mr Gowling upped the stakes with a vendor bid of $1 million, and more parties jumped in.
It sold to a downsizer for $1,245,000, some $145,000 more than the reserve price.
The result was better than Mr Richardson expected.
“There’s a lack of stock and we had a very strong and intense marketing campaign,” he said.
There was a wider range than usual of buyers, he added. “Investors, owner-occupiers and downsizers because it’s only one level … It’s not normal to have that much variety over one property.”
And in Coburg, a recently renovated home with a flexible floor plan beat its owner’s expectations by $185,000, with another five bidders turning up to fight it out.
Its reserve was $1.42 million, but it sold for $1,605,000.
Nelson Alexander agent Steven Shaw said 42 Soudan Street, Coburg, attracted strong competition because it was rare to find well-renovated homes of that size.
“It was unusual for the area because it could be five or six bedrooms,” he said. “It had a beautiful extension on it.
“It was double-storey and they used bricks from an old factory and they tried to make it look like an old dairy.”
Mr Shaw predicted the market had already hit the bottom, but said properties smashing their reserves could become less frequent as the market recovered.
“I think what we’ll see is more vendors start to put their properties on the market with the expectation that they should get more because they think, ‘My property is just as good as that one, or better’,” he said.
“Vendors’ expectations will increase and we won’t see these massive amounts over reserve.”
Later in Clayton, an old church sold to a developer at the bottom of its quoted price range of $3.5 million to $3.85 million.
The 1576 square metre block at 1494-1496 North Road used to belong to the Christian Scientists, a denomination which originated in the US in the late19th century and has about 100,000 members worldwide.
Century 21 agent Con Katos said the underbidders wanted to use the old church as a child minding centre or continue its use as a place of worship, however he said it was likely the buyers would turn it into an apartment block.
“That’s in a high density zoning, what we call a red zone or RZG3,” he said. “It’s across the road from Monash Uni, like directly across, so it’s likely it will be a four-storey apartment building.”
It had been a difficult sale for the vendors.
“Once it was all said and done, they’ve been there for so long, it’s the end of an era,” Mr Kotas said. “When we left they locked the doors for the last time, it was more emotional than I thought it would be.”
In Albert Park, a new build only attracted one active bidder, but a huge crowd.
“It was a massive crowd, there were 250 people,” Marshall White agent Oliver Bruce said of 10 Withers Street.
“Whilst we only saw one bidder we think there will be a sale in the coming days.
“It has hydronic underfloor heating, Dekton benchtops and marble rendered walls and a pool on the rooftop terrace and an outdoor kitchen.”
The luxury three-bedroom home had a reserve of $3,395,000, but passed in at $3,125,000. The bidder made an offer of $3.16 million but was rejected by the vendor.
Mr Bruce said the home had been on the market for some time, and its owner had greatly reduced their expectations.
“It had been on the market for circa $4 million earlier in the year and I think people expected price expectations to be up there rather than in the price range,” he said. “I think it will now come together shortly as the price range is a bit more realistic.”
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