Melbourne real estate auction blog: Livestreams and rolling updates from around the city
A Melbourne father arrived at an auction expecting to put in a bid or two for an old stables his kids could move into. But everything changed when the auctioneer revealed its true history.
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A Melbourne father has refused to back down in a two-horse race for an unusual Moonee Ponds home most locals figured was an old horse stables.
Buying the home for his kids to move into, he splashed a hefty $847,000 on the address after the auctioneer revealed the locals had it all wrong.
It was one of the more than 1200 Victorian homes slated to go under the hammer this week as the state approaches the peak of the spring selling season, according to PropTrack figures.
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By next weekend that number will surge to 1911, the biggest week of the year and likely the busiest since December 2021 when lockdowns earlier in the year compressed sales into a 2000-home pre-Christmas rush.
PropTrack economist Anne Flaherty said with private treaty sales typically tracking the auction market at a higher volume, the coming eight days were likely to be the best in the year for Victorian homebuyers.
“We are at the peak of the market,” Ms Flaherty said.
“And there’s no question that Melbourne is a buyer’s market right now.
“Conditions are not as competitive as they were earlier in the year, and buyers don’t have to worry about prices running away of them.
Traditionally the weekend ahead of the Melbourne Cup’s pseudo long weekend is Melbourne’s busiest for auctions in any year, but with large numbers of investors selling homes in response to land tax changes implemented earlier this year, the numbers are particularly high this spring.
AUCTION REPLAYS AND RESULTS
However, the economist noted that buyers would still have extensive options in November, with strong sales expected to continue until close to Christmas this year.
Reservoir was the auction capital of the nation this week, with 27 homes testing the market.
Doncaster East was next with 21, followed by Glen Waverley at 20.
Unexpected home truth drives dad to buy home for kids
An unusual Moonee Ponds garage converted into a warehouse-style home with a bathroom like something out of a camper van has sold for $847,000.
But the buyer, who wanted a place for his kids to move into, thought it was a converted stables until the auction preamble.
Nelson Alexander’s Ryan Currie said the 14A Milfay Ave home had attracted significant interest in the lead up to its auction, becoming the nation’s third most viewed home heading under the hammer this week.
The property is a bit of a local oddity, with locals having spent years wondering what it is — and mostly assuming it was a surviving set of stables from Melbourne’s earlier years.
But the now two-bedroom home was only built in the 1990s as a garage for the then owner.
Mr Currie said the property’s eventual buyer had always thought it had been a stables, and had become even more determined to buy it for his kids to move into when he found out it was much more modern.
“He had thought it was a horse stables,” he said.
The agent said an $800,000 vendor bid for the property was followed by an $805,000 offer, and the auction had then moved in $1000 increments to its eventual $847,000 sale.
While just above the property’s $840,000 reserve, he said it showed there had been very pronounced interest in the unusual address.
The home sale followed that of the main house on the block, a four-bedroom residence at 14 Milfay St that changed hands for $1.291m.
A $1.15m vendor bid was followed by a $1.2m live offer for the property, and the price kept rising as two buyers fought it out until it was called on the market at $1.27m.
Mr Currie said both the buyer and the underbidder were offered 14A as well, but both declined the home and sending it to a follow-on auction minutes after the first one.
A local mother and her son purchased the property, which was listed with a $1.2m-$1.3m asking price.
3/10 Boyd St, Blackburn South
With a $550,000 opening bid below the home’s $560,000-$610,000 price guide, buyers seemed to be hoping for a bargain for this Blackburn South unit.
But the two-bedroom home at 3/10 Boyd St had enough parties interested to force a contest that shot $75,000 past expectations.
After the low-ball opening offer, follow up bids quickly raised the figure to $610,000 — the top of the advertised range. And then kept going.
The agents were seeking instruction from the seller around the $640,000 mark, and the home was called on the market at $657,000.
Bids slowed to as little as $500 at various points, but the price kept rising and the hammer didn’t come down until the figure had reached $685,000.
McGrath Blackburn’s James Lewis handled the listing.
4/55 Provost St, North Melbourne
A two-bedroom apartment in North Melbourne got off to a slow start with buyers taking a while to make an offer, even after WB Simpson and Sons auctioneer Richard Simpson made a $660,000 vendor bid.
But fairly consistent bidding and multiple buyers eventually followed for the 4/55 Provost St property.
Subsequent offers rose in $10,000 increments to $680,000 then in $5000 rises to $730,000, when it was called on the market.
About 10 minutes and a number of bids later the home sold for $745,000.
The home had a $660,000-$720,000 price guide.
2/60 Wilson St, Cheltenham
Ray White’s Angela Limanis had been quietly confident in the sale of 2/60 Wilson St, Cheltenham, this week.
But she hadn’t expected a more than $70,000 boil over.
While only a few dozen groups had inspected the two-bedroom unit, the mix of first-home buyers and young professionals were the right ones to suggest a result was on the cards.
The property went under the hammer with a $770,000-$830,000 asking price, and the opening bid came in at $770,000.
But the price quickly rose with four bidders in the fray, including a man competing on behalf of his daughter who walked away to attend another auction after a single bid.
It ultimately sold for $902,000, with the final two bids showing the buyers were well out of their comfort zone at just $2000 and $1000 respectively.
Ms Limanis said she was surprised at the figure.
“I didn’t expect that, with the general market conditions to get to that number I am super stoked for the vendor,” she said.
The agent spoke with the buyer afterwards who revealed while he’d been prepared to go past $900,000 he had only been willing to do so if “push came to shove”.
Ms Limanis added that it had been some time since she had four bidders at an auction and the result was a healthy sign as Melbourne headed to the peak of the spring property market.
154 Station St, Box Hill
Multiple bidders and a surprise $1m-plus price emerged for a Box Hill house that went under the hammer this morning.
The 154 Station St property had been listed by Jellis Craig’s Daniel Bullen with an $875,000-$950,000 asking price.
The three-bedroom home was on the market and the top of the range quickly eclipsed as the buyers contested the sale.
A deal looked settled at $996,000, but a new bidder was welcomed with a $1m bid.
One of the others tried to reclaim the keys with a $1000 rise, but the auction ended with a $1.05m final bid a few moments later.
Passed in on vendor bid
A pair of homes put under the hammer at 10am both came up short with homebuyers, as they failed to attract bids.
At 2/70 Victoria St, Sandringham, a two-bedroom house with a $950,000-$1m asking price listed by Ray White Cheltenham director Kevin Chokshi was passed in at $900,000.
A single vendor bid was the only offering for the modest, but charming home that is one of four in its complex.
An attractive four-bedroom house at 110 Reynard St, Coburg, was also passed in.
Ray White Brunswick’s Jamil Allouche made multiple attempts to try and get buyers to make an offer for the home with a $2m-$2.2m asking price, but it passed in at $2.15m after he had a chat with the vendor.
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Originally published as Melbourne real estate auction blog: Livestreams and rolling updates from around the city
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