By Sarah Webb
A local downsizer splashed $7 million on a brand new architecturally designed house that used “every bit of space” in Hawthorn’s prestigious Grace Park Estate on Saturday, beating two other bidders in a rapid-fire auction.
The four-bedroom home at 7 Charles Street passed in at $6.5 million and the buyer paid bang on the reserve in post-auction negotiations. It was the top sale clocked across the Victorian capital over the weekend, with property punters reporting the city’s market otherwise remained soft.
The contemporary property, designed by Neil Architecture, features many windows, outdoor landscaped living spaces, a gas fireplace and heated towel racks, with the entire lot all but taken up by the home itself.
It was the ultimate buyer who threw down the opening bid of $5.7 million, which spurred the two other parties – also downsizers – into action. A flurry of largely $50,000 increments was thrown down before the auction ground to a halt at $6.5 million.
“It was pretty quick – the three bidders didn’t mess about … and in the end, it was a good result,” selling agent Mike Beardsley of Jellis Craig said.
“It was certainly the incredibly well-designed home [that attracted such strong interest] and it was really cleverly designed and used every bit of space. Every room is [a] great size, and it was filled with natural light.
“There’s still strong demand for prestige homes.”
It was one of 799 homes for auction in Melbourne on Saturday. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 61.8 per cent from 553 reported results, while 79 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
It comes as Melbourne home values fell another 0.2 per cent in June, on CoreLogic figures released on Monday, taking the loss for the quarter to 0.6 per cent.
Over at Heidelberg Heights, a four-bedroom cottage on a 792-square-metre block at 10 Bonar Street fetched $1,275,000 in a textbook auction after a young family renting nearby beat two other active bidders. They paid just over the $1.15 million reserve to nab the keys, said selling agent Nick Smith of Nelson Alexander.
Bidding started with a vendor bid of $1.05 million, followed by a genuine bid that pushed the price to $1,075,000, Smith said. A quick succession of $20,000 and then $10,000 bids followed, with bids slowing to $5000 increments and even $500 sums before it sold under the hammer.
“The underbidder was also a young couple and then there was another family. They all loved the block and the fact that it was a really nice 1950s home with a lot of potential,” Smith said.
“The market in general is really price-sensitive at the moment and while there are a number of good buyers out there, we are finding that in general, turnkey homes are a bit better than those that require work.”
In Parkdale, a young family that wasn’t even actively looking for a home wound up splashing $3.01 million for a “resort-style” abode. The sole bidders on the architecturally designed house fell in love with the pool and water views, said selling agent Lauren Chambers of Ray White Cheltenham.
Perched close to Parkdale and Mordialloc Beach at 9 Rosella Road, the five-bedroom property sits on a 729-square-metre block and initially attracted four registered bidders. Bidding kicked off at $2.6 million with a vendor bid, sparking the couple to counter with $2.7 million before the home was passed in. A live negotiation ensued, which led to the home fetching just over its $3 million reserve.
Chambers said the sellers had decided to downsize from their beloved family home despite building it from the ground up just over six years ago.
“They were rapt with the result,” she said. “It was the sellers’ family home which they built 6½ years ago, and they were selling in order to downsize.”
One of the most affordable properties to sell over the weekend in and around the Victorian capital was an empty block at 36 Stettler Boulevard in Mickleham, which sold under the hammer for $249,000 through Ray White Mill Park.
AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said the figure spoke volumes about the Melbourne market, which he said remained on the soft side as both interest rate uncertainty and affordability concerns continued to spook buyers.
“With the clearance rate around 50 per cent, it’s not disastrous, but it’s weak. But with listings at over 700 – which is almost double the year-on-year level of listings – this indicates a lot of distressed sales from vendors who were waiting for the market to boom, only for it to never come,” Oliver said.
“The risk is now that the market will drop further because there is talk interest rates will go up again and although I don’t think they will, the risk is significant.”
Oliver said the market trajectory would likely continue along the same soft path.