Melbourne auctions: Unlivable unit sells for nearly $70,000 above reserve
Ripped-up carpets, cracked and dirty walls, and a DIY air conditioning installation weren’t enough to keep keen buyers at bay on Saturday morning in Prahran.
The two-bedroom unit at 3/35 Donald Street was a deceased estate and put up for sale by State Trustees.
It was one of 480 auctions scheduled for Saturday across the city. By 6pm, Domain had recorded a clearance rate of 61.7 per cent, from 313 reported results. There were 37 withdrawn properties.
Jellis Craig auctioneer Elliot Gill said when he and Matt Giulieri took on the listing, the home wasn’t in the best shape.
“The unit was a blank canvas, to say the least,” he said. “They had to strip the carpet out, it was in such poor condition. There really wasn’t much left in there that a buyer would retain.
“The highlight was the split system the owner recently put in.”
Despite fending off buyers suggesting their quoted price guide of $450,000 to $490,000 was too high, the opening bid was bang on the $450,000 reserve.
Mr Gill announced the home was on the market right away, and the three bidders quickly traded bids until the unit sold for $519,000 to a local couple.
Buyer Greg Hall told Domain he’d hoped to scare off other buyers with fierce bidding.
“We were hoping to put a few people off but [the other buyers were] a bit keen and now it’s up to [partner] Tim to make it work,” Mr Hall said after the auction. “[The price is] probably higher than we wanted, to be honest, but the location’s perfect.
“If we can do the reno right and rent it at a decent yield we’ll still be alright.”
The sale price was $69,000 more than the reserve.
Mr Hall said his partner was keen to do his first renovation after losing work due to the coronavirus.
Later in South Melbourne, a like-new renovation of a single-fronted Victorian home sold for $200,000 more than reserve.
The three-bedroom home at 386 Dorcas Street had been popular since its auction campaign launched last month, auctioneer and listing agent Warwick Gardener said.
“The people who bought it inspected it at the very first open and so did the underbidder, come to think of it,” he said.
The two buyers were the only bidders for the home, but furiously traded bids from the bottom of the quoted price range, $1.65 million, past the reserve and top of the range of $1.75 million and to the final sale price of $1.95 million.
Mr Gardener said the home had wowed buyers for the high-quality rebuilding effort and use of space, on an average-sized 142 square metre block.
“It’s one of the best single fronts I’ve seen in terms of its renovation,” he said. “They’ve packed tons of space into a relatively small plot of land.
“To get two living areas out of something like this is a bit of an achievement.”
The vendors were making a sea-change because they’d adjusted their lifestyles since the coronavirus lockdown and the buyers were a couple without children, Mr Gardener said.
Back in Prahran, a three-bedroom townhouse also proved popular at auction.
Three bidders contended for 8/10 Lalbert Crescent, and pushed the price well past its quoted price range of $1.18 million to $1.28 million, Wakelin Property Advisory’s Jarrod McCabe reported.
“It went pretty well,” he said. “There was a need for a vendor bid around $1.2 million but it didn’t put anyone off.
“[Bids] were in increments of $10,000 and $5000 through most of the way.”
It sold for $1,377,000 to a young family. Mr McCabe said there appeared to be several disappointed couples in the audience.
“There’s a lot of young couples in the sub-$2 million bracket,” he said. “A lot of young couples with parents helping them too.
“There were certainly a few in the crowd murmuring: ‘oh we’ll get the next one’, so definitely there were some there who wanted to bid but didn’t get a chance to.”
Mr McCabe said compared to the recent sale of 3/10 Lalbert Crescent in the same complex, it was a great result for the vendor. It sold for $1,245,000 in February, public records show.
“Unit 3 is not as wide,” he said. “But they’re not drastically different. The idea that this one beat it by more than $100,000 shows there’s still a lot of interest around in the young family market.”
Later in Southbank, several young couples were beat out by an investor to secure a two-bedroom unit with city views.
After a slow auction with three bidders, the apartment at 1101/65 Coventry passed in at $690,000. The quoted price range was $600,000 to $660,000.
Belle Property auctioneer and listing agent Scott Belsey said the home sold in negotiations soon after for $695,000.
“There was a bit of negotiation afterwards but we were close to the mark and the owners and the buyer met in the middle,” he said.
Mr Besley was surprised the unit sold to an investor: he felt the unit’s quality and favourable north-west orientation lent itself to owner-occupier interest.
“What it had going for it was the contemporary style and a great view,” he said. “It’s amazing there, it’s more like a panorama than just a view.”
The vendors were a young couple, making the move into a larger, family home.
We recommend
We thought you might like
States
Capital Cities
Capital Cities - Rentals
Popular Areas
Allhomes
More
