Melbourne auctions: strong sales in Beaumaris, Bentleigh East
COVID-19 restrictions forced an auctioneer to turn bidders away from a Bentleigh East auction — but it still went off like a “volcano”, selling hundreds of thousands of dollars above reserve.
A family farewelled its cherished home of 70 years, as COVID-19 restrictions forced an auctioneer to turn away bidders from an auction in Melbourne’s southeast.
The Melbourne auction market continued its bounce back from lockdown with 610 auctions scheduled this week, according to realestate.com.au.
In Beaumaris, an emotional hybrid on-site and online auction resulted in the $1.285m sale of 10 Alfred Street.
But vendor Sandra, whose late parents owned the house for decades, said she and her family had “no regrets” about letting the house go.
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“It wasn’t just selling a house, it was the next step for us,” she said.
“My parents built and lived there since 1951 and were always satisfied to just stay. I used to call it their nest.
“We were raised there and the grandchildren always looked on it as a safe place to go.
“It’s been a real constant in all of our lives.”
Ray White’s Kevin Chokshi called the three-bedroom home on the market at $1.275m and a family from Keysborough — who was eager to move into the area’s school zone — took the keys after a total of 20 bids.
Meanwhile in Moorabbin, first-home buyers made the leap from renting to buying, scoring a three-bedroom property at 59 Worthing Road for $921,000 after it was called on the market at $870,000.
Buxton’s Paul Sibley said the St Kilda couple represented a trend of buyers who had ditched their inner-city rentals and purchased homes in the area after lockdown.
“It’s better than an apartment and still in an affordable price range,” Mr Sibley said.
Also in Melbourne’s southeast, COVID-19 restrictions on on-site auction attendance numbers forced an auctioneer to turn away eager bidders.
Castran Gilbert’s Paul Castran said he had to “pan for gold” at the auction of a four-bedroom family home at 30 Kennedy Street, Bentleigh East., culling the 31 registered bidders down to keep the 10 people with the best offers on-site.
The hot property still rocketed $290,000 past reserve to a $1.72m sale as the auction went off like a “volcano”.
“We even had some people doing phone bids and text bids from their cars,” Mr Castran said. “COVID is not very real estate friendly — normally you would never turn people away from an auction.”
Mr Castran said “compelling” interest rates and buyers’ padded budgets from time spent in lockdown were helping the Melbourne market’s “enormous bounce back.”
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Originally published as Melbourne auctions: strong sales in Beaumaris, Bentleigh East