Real Estate auction blog: Livestreams and rolling updates from Melbourne’s auction market

The last home architectural icon Robin Boyd completed before his death has sold for $460,000 above expectations in a heated auction. And it’s one of many to top reserves by six figures.

Nathan Mawby

@mrmawby

5 min read

July 22, 2023 - 1:11PM

News Corp Australia Network

20 Byways Drive, Ringwood East, was the last home designed by iconic architect Robin Boyd before his death in the 1970s. It just sold for $460,000 above expectations.

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From a Robin Boyd masterpiece to a storybook cottage where the auctioneers channelled tag-team wrestling, homes have smashed reserves across Melbourne.

More than 670 Victorian homes were expcted to test the market this week, 642 of them in Melbourne, in the first weekend of a time of winter real estate agents regard as the best to sell homes in.

Barry Plant growth director Mark Lynch said those selling today were doing so in a little bit of a golden hour for winter real estate, aligning their listing with the weeks between the end of the winter school holidays and the start of the spring selling market.

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Mr Lynch said the state’s second biggest real estate agency had recorded a “bloody good” clearance rate around 80 per cent in recent weeks, and with no school holidays or public holidays left between now and September “we should see demand lift from this weekend”.

“I reckon you could go back over 10 years and the best numbers have come traditionally through the late winter,” he said.

“But we know the volumes will increase as we head into the spring market. Four weeks post the grand final is going to be a busy, busy day.”

AUCTION REPLAYS AND RESULTS

With a limited window to sell before one of the busiest times of year for the property market, he added that vendor’s going to market in the coming weeks could also beat one or more interest rate hikes that might reduce buyer demand.

And results today certainly seem to have proven him right.

20 BYWAYS DRIVE, RINGWOOD EAST

Inside the 20 Byways Drive, Ringwood East, home designed by Robin Boyd.

The last home designed by iconic Australian architect Robin Boyd and completed in his lifetime has been sold for $460,000 more than expected.

Five bidders made a play for the architectural gem, opening the bidding for the home known as Hegarty House at $1.05m.

But the price for the 20 Byways Drive, Ringwood East, property kept growing.

It was called on the market at $1.15m, but two bidders refused to back down and it eventually sold for $1.61m.

Jellis Craig’s Mark Salvati had the home listed with $1.05m-$1.15m hopes and said the final sale price just showed that when it comes to Robin Boyd homes “you never know where you will go”.

33 CHANDLER DRIVE, SOUTH MORANG

33 Chandler Drive, South Morang, sold six-figures above expectations.

Four bidders turned out for a four-bedroom house in South Morang and their competition drove it $100,000 past expectations.

With a $650,000 opening bid at the bottom of the home’s $650,000-$715,000 advertised range, things got off to a good start for Barry Plant auctioneer Jay Moxon.

They improved as consistent bidding pushed the figure to $750,000 where he called 33 Chandler Drive on the market.

And things just kept getting better for the vendor, with the home eventually selling for $850,000.

With bidding dropping as low as $500 at times during the auction, it’s possible Mr Moxon’s pre-auction reminder that inflation figures dropped recently gave bidders a bit of confidence despite the Reserve Bank warning this week that interest rates could still rise.

32 AVISHA WAY, GREENVALE

32 Avisha Way, Greenvale, sold six-figures above expectations.

Eight bidders have contested a Greenvale home’s auction and pushed it $101,000 past its reserve.

The four-bedroom house had a $590,000-$640,000 asking price and was called on the market at $690,000 — with Ray White Gladstone Park’s Malek Younan steering the listing and auction.

But with intense competition the sale for 32 Avisha Way rose to an unexpected $791,000 sale.

The vendors, a family looking to upsize, will trade places with a buyer who was looking to downsize into the house.

“Most of the bidders were young families,” Mr Younan said.

“Supply is still very low in this area, which is driving great results.”

38 TIMBARRA DRIVE, WERRIBEE

38 Timbarra Way, Werribee, attracted a pair of first-home buyers as it went to auction.

A three-bedroom starter home in Werribee has sold above expectations after a bidding stoush between first-home buyers.

The 38 Timbarra Drive house went under the hammer with a $549,000-$589,000 asking price and had a reserve at $570,000.

HockingStuart’s Samantha McCarthy handled the listing and reported two first-home buyers bidding for the home, pushing the price to $590,000.

Located near popular Riverwalk Primary School, the house had the eye of a number of other buyers but only attracted offers from two groups.

The sale price was just $10,000 short of the $600,000 cap on a first-home buyer support program that enables them to forego paying stamp duty.

8 ROSELYN CRES, BORONIA

8 Roslyn Cres, Boronia, sold under the hammer — but for less than it last changed hands for.

A big sale above expectations for a Boronia house has revealed the ups and downs of the Melbourne property market, and is a potential sign of a substantive rebound in the past month or so.

Sold under the hammer for $860,500, the auction for the home exausted bidder budgets with five of the final six bids rising in $500 increments.

But the three-bedroom house at 8 Roselyn Cres last sold for $870,000 amid Covid-control measures in August 2021.

With the home listed for $700,000-$770,000 almost two years later its sale for $860,500 could be a sign the market is climbing again after a poor start to the year as buyers remained leary of future rate hikes.

The listing was handled by McGrath’s Wilson Shi and Ellie Gong.

27 PLATO CRES, WHEELERS HILL

27 Plato Crescent, Wheelers Hill, sold six-figures above expectations.

Harcourts Judd White auctioneer Dexter Prack got things started for this four-bedroom storybook cottage in Wheelers Hill, taking a $900,000 opening offer before trying to move things along in $50,000 increments.

The plan didn’t work out and after a few $25,000 bids carried the 27 Plato Cres home to $1m, fellow auctioneer Andrew Dimashki took over.

Bidders took that as a chance to cut offers back to as little as $5000, but the figure kept rising until Mr Prack took back over again at $1.075m.

The pair kept trading places throughout the sale, and with bidding consistent they called the home on the market at $1.19m — well above the $990,000-$1.089m asking price.

The bidding appeared to be done when it slipped down to $500 increments at $1.242m.

But two of the groups pushed on and the hammer didn’t come down until $1.246m.

Ron Kohli was the listing agent.

1 WINDSOR CLOSE, BORONIA

1 Windsor Close, Boronia, sold above expectations.

Steady bidding carried this four-bedroom Boronia brick classic from a $650,000 opening offer to a $772,000 sale that was well past its reserve.

On the market inside its $690,000-$750,000 advertised range, the 733sq m property at 1 Windsor Close attracted multiple bidders and dozens of offers.

But with bids as low as $500 towards the end, the underbidder appeared to have nothing left to give when the price reached $772,000.

Barry Plant’s Mark Hughes had the listing which is located less than a kilometre from schools, transport and shops.

2/24 CONISTON AVE, AIRPORT WEST

2/24 Coniston Ave, Airport West, passed in with prospects of a sale after the auction.

A single $730,000 bid in the advertised range for 2/24 Coniston Ave, Airport West, wasn’t enough to get a deal over the line under the hammer.

But with the home seeking a sale from $720,000-$780,000 Barry Plant auctioneer Bill Karp passed the home in confident there would be a purchase in post-auction negotiations with the only group willing to make a live offer.

The three-bedroom townhouse is a short trip from shops and Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School.

EARLIER IN THE WEEK

Earlier this week Ray White Werribee director Michelle Chick reported two above-reserve sales in Werribee and Hoppers Crossing, with families and first-home buyers duking it out.

Sold in twilight auctions on Tuesday night, the first under the hammer was 23 Aitken Ave, Hoppers Crossing, which had a $480,000 reserve price within its $445,000-$488,000 price guide. It sold for $510,000 under the hammer.

Shortly after, another home at 36 Keira Circuit, Werribee, went to auction with a $580,000-$630,000 asking price.