First home buyer snaps up quirky inner-west home for $766,000

A first home buyer fought hard to secure a quirky Footscray townhouse nestled inside a former Olympic Tyre building, prevailing over an older male bidder at the last minute to pay $766,000 for the property.

Guided at $670,000 to $730,000, the two-bedroom, split-level flat at 13 Newman Drive drew interest from first home buyers, young families and downsizers alike. But it was three bidders – a young, first home buying couple, a single first home buyer and an older man looking to buy back into the Australian market – who engaged in a fierce bidding war. The reserve for the property was $725,000.

The property was one of 519 scheduled to go to auction in Melbourne this week. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 68.4 per cent from 373 reported results throughout the week, while 38 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

The young couple kicked off bidding at $670,000, which was quickly surpassed by the single young man. The two battled it out until $749,000, at which point the older man entered his first bid.

After multiple last calls, the apartment sold to the younger man, who, according to auctioneer and lead agent Joseph Luppino from Village Real Estate, had been looking for a while.

“He has been looking to buy in the inner west and has missed out on similar properties, so he’s very happy to have secured a place for himself,” Luppino said. The underbidder had recently returned from the UK and was hoping to re-enter the Australian market.

First home buyers faced an older buyer looking to get back into the Australian market. Credit: Caroline Zielinski

Recent interest rate cuts had almost doubled buyer numbers for some properties in the past month, Luppino said, putting “a bit of heat on the pre-existing buyers in the market”.

In the south-eastern suburb of Dandenong, 29 kilometres from Melbourne’s CBD, families braved the cold and rain to bid on a five-bedroom, three-bathroom home situated on an 809-square-metre block.

Buxton Keysborough agent Emrah Dilbaz said the winning bid of $1.9 million for the 89 Herbert Street property had exceeded expectations – and the reserve of $1.88 million.

“We had two bidders and the auction just went off, quick quick, bang bang – it was over in about three minutes,” he said. Before the auction, many people were indicating they’d pay less than the price guide of $1.78 to $1.88 million, Dilbaz said.

“We weren’t sure we were going to get there, as Dandenong auctions are usually touch and go, so to get something above the range is a very strong result.” The winners were a local family looking to buy a newer home in the area.

In the inner north, young professionals battled it out for a converted Fitzroy warehouse at auction, with a doctor in his mid-30s placing the winning bid of $1,432,500.

The bidding for the two-bedroom, two-storey townhouse, located at 2/124 Rose Street and across from Lune Croissanterie, started low at $900,000, with Belle Property Carlton’s lead agent and auctioneer, Scott McElroy, pushing for bids closer to the guided price of $1.15 million to $1.25 million.

There is no legal requirement for a vendor’s reserve to conform to their property’s price guide.

“The next bid was $1.1 million, and I got it moving along from there,” said McElroy. For the next 15 minutes, five groups – “all young professional couples and singles” – bid in increments of $20,000, $10,000, $5000 and $1000, quickly surpassing the reserve price of $1.27 million.

“The winner, a doctor, was looking for something unique in Fitzroy, and this ticked a lot of boxes, including being close to hospitals,” McElroy said.

The unique converted warehouse property in Fitzroy attracted interest from young professionals. Credit: Domain

He said there was currently a “lack of opportunity in the market for unique properties that have character”, which contributed to interest in the warehouse.

“There is also a lack of good quality owner-occupier stock at the moment, but that’s classic winter for you,” McElroy added. “A lot of investors are also not as frustrated as they were months ago, so they are holding tight longer to see how much the market will improve after interest rate cuts.”

Nearby, a three-bedroom Victorian house in Fitzroy North passed in at auction at $2.42 million, before selling shortly after at the reserve price of $2.55 million.

Luke Chisholm, lead agent from Nelson Alexander Fitzroy, said while all interested parties had turned up at the 96 Freeman Street property, guided at $2.4 million to $2.55 million, they didn’t have the confidence to participate.

“Two people we had marked as interested hung around afterwards, but because they hadn’t bid, the buyer had exclusivity to talk to the vendor,” he said.

The winners were a young professional couple looking to move into the area, and the deceased estate was their ticket in.