Melbourne virtual auctions: Brighton mid-century home sells for $3.757 million as inspections restart
A mid-century home in Brighton, barely touched since it was built in 1969, sold under the virtual hammer for $3,757,000 on Saturday – a whopping $507,000 above the price when it was declared to be on the market.
The Brighton sale was one of the biggest for the weekend, and on the first day private inspections were allowed in Melbourne since the city’s sixth lockdown began six weeks ago.
It was one of 360 auctions scheduled in Melbourne on Saturday, a slow start to spring now likely to gather pace.
By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 66.7 per cent from 195 reported results, while 56 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
The three-bedroom home at 9 Butler Street, which looks like time stood still inside, will not be torn down by the new owners, Buxton Real Estate Bentleigh director and auctioneer Chris Hassall said.
“The purchasers are planning to retain the home and do a renovation and are in discussions with the vendors about purchasing some of the [original teak] furniture,” Mr Hassall said.
The home was built by a former executive for an electronics company and had been designed especially for entertaining other executives visiting from overseas, he said.
Six buyers registered to bid for the popular home, with 25 people watching as it sold online. In the end, it was a battle between two parties making $1000 bids to reach the sale price.
“People in Melbourne do love mid-century homes; they are very popular, and they are really rare in Brighton,” Mr Hassall said.
Agents were inundated with calls from keen buyers wanting to see through properties, with one receiving 150 calls within a day of the announcement that private inspections could go ahead.
Nelson Alexander Kew partner and auctioneer Mark Verrocchi said agents were waiting at some properties for up to four hours to allow keen buyers to inspect them privately.
“It’s pandemonium out there, to be brutally honest,” Mr Verrocchi said on Saturday. “But it’s good; it’s brilliant we’re able to do inspection appointments again, and if I have to stand at a property for three or four hours, then I will.”
While buyers were keen to see homes for sale, properties that had only been able to have virtual inspections were still sold under the hammer online.
A three-bedroom unit at 2/59 Westbrook Street, Kew East, sold under the virtual hammer for $1,323,000 despite no one inspecting it.
Six buyers registered to bid on the renovated home, one of two in the block, though the sale came down to just two of them.
An opening bid of $1.16 million started proceedings, and the buyer won the day with a final bid of an extra $500.
Nelson Alexander Kew selling agent Helen O’Grady said the property, snapped up by a couple planning to live there, had been owned by a young family who were now upsizing.
“Most people had just seen through virtually, though we did have a couple of people through this [Saturday] morning,” Ms O’Grady said. “People were ready to bid before even seeing it.”
In the coastal suburb of Black Rock, south-east of the city, a renovated three-bedroom townhouse, also from the 1960s, sold under the virtual hammer for $1.587 million, well above the $1.29 million to $1.39 million price guide.
The home at 2/112 Bluff Road, which had a large four-car garage once used as a mechanics workshop, was bought by an owner-occupier.
The vendors, who had owned the property for 10 years, own another home on the same block.
Belle Property Sandringham auctioneer Ryan Castles said the sale was an excellent result, especially as the seven registered bidders had kept their cards close to their chest.
The property received a $1.3 million opening bid, almost passing in at that point. But another bid soon kicked off the competition.
Mr Castles said there had been a huge amount of interest from buyers wanting to visit properties.
“As soon as the announcement was made that restrictions were easing, there were close to 150 calls in the space of 24 hours,” he said.
While they didn’t quite crack the $1 million sale price, two homes in Thomastown and Lalor sold for well above the reserve.
A three-bedroom home at 18 Bickley Avenue, Thomastown, sold for $703,000 – $78,000 above the reserve. First-home buyers were the winning bidders, just one party of 21 who registered for the auction.
In Lalor, it was a similar story with first-home buyers beating out other first-time buyers and investors to purchase the renovated family home 9 Judith Court for $805,000 – $112,000 above the top end of the price guide.
Bidding started at $640,000, within the price guide of $630,000 to $693,000 for the three-bedroom home.
Nineteen potential buyers had registered, and five competed hard, sending the price soaring above the $740,000 reserve within a few offers. After a moment’s hesitation at $800,000 and a handful of smaller offers, the hammer fell at $805,000.
“It went unbelievably well,” Harcourts Rata & Co auctioneer Mario Tucci, the selling agent on both properties, said of the Lalor sale. “It was a very, very quick auction.”
He highlighted the pent-up demand from buyers and sellers as Melbourne’s property market reopens for private inspections. After a busy auction morning, he was heading to back-to-back appointments until 8pm.
- With Elizabeth Redman
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