Melbourne auctions: Two-decade old impulse buy reaps $1.82m windfall for house-proud Northcote vendor
A three-bedroom art deco clinker brick home in Northcote, which last traded for $185,000, sold under the hammer for $1.82 million on Saturday.
The auction was held in the backyard of the large property at 55 Arthurton Road, where about 40 onlookers and prospective buyers stood between raised garden beds and a sunken fire pit to keep warm.
But they didn’t have to stand in the cold for long, as four bidders went head-to-head in a fast-paced auction that got underway with a bid of $1.5 million – right at the top end of the price guide of $1.4 million to $1.5 million.
It was one of 944 auctions scheduled in Melbourne on Saturday.
By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 76.4 per cent from 720 reported results.
Listing agent Andrew Guarino from Woodards Northcote explained the vendor had lovingly and stylishly updated the art deco home she has lived in for the past 12 years and which her late grandfather bought in the late-1990s.
“It was one of those stories where the vendor’s grandfather was simply walking past the auction and ended up buying the house,” he said.
Public records show the home last sold in December 1998 for $185,000.
He says updating the home to its current state, which includes a show-stopping duck egg blue kitchen and a bright and contemporary living space, had been a “labour of love” for the vendor, who is moving to a “smaller home, on smaller land” nearby.
The stunning transformation captured the interest of four parties, all young families looking to move in.
On 557 square metres, the spacious house was particularly popular among local families and others living a bit closer to the city seeking “better land and better value,” Mr Guarino said.
A real estate agent bidding on behalf of a family friend – a young woman and her son – placed the highest bid of $1.82 million to secure the home for $300,000 above the reserve.
Meanwhile, in Coburg, another large, three-bedroom home, owned by the same family for more than 50 years, also sold under the hammer on Saturday.
The classic Californian bungalow at 54 Marks Street sold for $1.32 million – just above the reserve of $1.3 million, with two bidders, both owner-occupiers, hoping to secure the home.
Listing agent Stefan Stella from Nelson Alexander Coburg said the successful bidders were a young family who plan to transform the unrenovated house into their “long-term family home.”
He described the auction as “an emotional time” for the family, who decided to put the home on the market about two years after their mother passed away.
“For them, it is the closing of a chapter of a long-time family home, so there were many mixed emotions,” he said.
While Mr Stella had just one auction on Saturday, he had 14 open for inspections, which he said was an unusually high number for July.
“We had quite a few people through too. It certainly doesn’t feel like the middle of winter because normally everyone is away,” he said.
“But I guess no one can go anywhere much, so we’re just ploughing through, and it actually almost feels like spring today.”
Mr Stella has 19 active campaigns now and “another eight to 10 to come on in the coming weeks.”
“It’s definitely going to be a very busy winter for us,” he said.
In the Docklands, where investor activity has dropped away since COVID-19 prompted the closure of international borders and a reduction in international students, it could be a far quieter winter.
On Saturday, a one-bedroom apartment at 414/5 Caravel Lane was passed in at $415,000 after bidding didn’t get close enough to the quoted price range of $420,000 to $460,000.
Public records show the spacious apartment, used as a rental property in recent years, last sold in 2013 for $415,000.
The latest Domain Rent Report, published this week, revealed the asking price for apartment rents in the Docklands fell by 24.5 per cent over the year to June, representing the biggest drop in rental asking prices in the state.
In Ivanhoe, a large, five-bedroom family home on a corner block sold for $300,000 above the reserve, when three registered bidders pushed the final selling price to $2.1 million.
Bidding for the two-storey home at 1 Alanah Place opened at $1.7 million and quickly soared past the reserve of $1.8 million.
The bidders hoping to call the large, modern house their own included a young couple, a downsizer and a family with young children, said listing agent Scott Nugent from Jellis Craig Eltham.
“In the end it came down to two bidders who really pushed that price well above the reserve,” he says.
It was a downsizer, moving from Kew, who finally secured the modern home with a bid of $2.1 million.
Mr Nugent says the vendors decided to take the long-time family home to auction after seeking a post-Covid lifestyle change.
“They’ve got three older kids and they’ve decided to move out to some acreage in Research with a pool and a tennis court.”
Mr Nugent adds that Melbourne’s two-week lockdown has meant July will be busier than usual.
“That lockdown has pushed everything back, so we’ve still got a lot of vendors looking to sell much later in winter than we would normally see,” he said.
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