By Jim Malo
A much-loved and well-kept house in Pascoe Vale sold for $1,385,000 to downsizers on Saturday, after a hotly contested auction between four bidders.
The three-bedroom home at 6 Ann Street features a solar power system, a lovingly manicured garden and modern features throughout. The home last sold for $387,500 in 2006, records show.
Ray White Preston’s Ian Dempsey listed the property for sale with a quoted price guide of $1.1 million to $1.2 million. He said buyers were impressed by how the owners kept the home.
“It’s bucking the trend of those investment-type, tired properties,” Dempsey said. “He’s put a lot of work into the backyard. It’s immediately liveable.
“It’s a three-bedroom, one-bathroom. We had a little bit of pullback without the second bathroom, but the presentation just blew people away. So I think that’s what got her over the line today.”
The home was one of 1053 auctions scheduled across Melbourne on Saturday. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 62.7 per cent from 807 reported results, while 82 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
The home’s irrigated garden was a standout feature. Credit: Justin McManus
The bidding opened at $1 million with four prospective buyers. The parties traded more than 40 rapid bids, nearly all of which were $5000 increments. All underbidders were younger couples, Dempsey said.
He said the reserve was the top of the range. The final price was $185,000 more than the reserve.
In South Yarra, a two-bedroom townhouse at 27 Hyland Street sold post-auction to a first home buyer.
Nelson Alexander Kew’s Charlie Barham listed the home with a quoted price range of $850,000 to $900,000.
“It was really great, really unique,” he said. “It was between an apartment and a townhouse. It had two outdoor areas, and it wasn’t part of a body corporate.”
The auction began with a vendor bid of $850,000, and the first home buyer placed the only genuine bid of $860,000. The home was passed in, but the buyer paid $887,500 in post-auction negotiations.
Barham said another prospective buyer, an investor, turned up to the auction but didn’t bid.
“When we’re in a bit more of a balanced market you’ll find investors will surface, chasing value,” he said. “It can be an indicator that it is a good time to be out and buying.”
In Flemington, a double-fronted Flemington house sold for $1.3 million after an intense auction where five bidders competed.
The three-bedroom house at 53 Shields Street is liveable despite needing some renovations; it features wood panelling ceilings and walls in some rooms, a kitchen cabinetry with a distressed wood style and an elevated backyard.
Compton Green agent Lachlan Bishop listed the home for sale with a quoted price range of $1.05 million to $1.15 million. The auction began with a bid at the bottom of the range. The next was at the top.
“It was surprising,” Bishop said. “It went straight to our top end of the range. So, a $100,000 jump from our first bid.”
The three-bedroom Victorian home in Flemington is liveable, but needs some renovations.
Bidding was intense and intimate, as the auction was held indoors because of the rain. The bidders traded a couple of dozen bids in rapid succession.
Auctioneer Adrian Butera refused to disclose the reserve price. During the auction, a buyer’s advocate repeatedly asked if the home was on the market after the price cleared the top of range.
Butera answered no until the price reached $1.2 million, at which point he said the home was on the market and selling.
The home sold to a buyer’s advocate bidding on behalf of a young professional couple, Bishop said. All other bidders were in the same demographic.
“Not a lot of first-time buyers, obviously, at that price point,” he said. “There were no downsizers because of the work that’s required. But yeah, young professional couples is what we identified very early on.”
In Reservoir, a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house at 52 Dredge Street sold at auction for $900,000.
The brick home attracted two bidders, and was listed for sale by Jellis Craig’s Matthew Zagami with a quoted price range of $830,000 to $870,000.
“It was an original brick veneer home, it was an Italian family who lived in the property so it had an Italian-esque touch to it,” he said. “The backyard had a big shed, and they spent their whole life doing all the traditional stuff, [making] tomato sauce, salami, all that.”
Zagami said bidding began at the bottom of the range. “The bidding was good. What happened was, it was going up in $10,000s and once we got up to the $880,000 mark it slowed down a little bit. They squeezed towards the end.”
The two couples interested in buying the home liked its location. “There’s not a lot of houses that come up in that Merrilands estate, so when they come up, they’re popular,” the agent said.
Zagami declined to disclose the reserve.
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