Former tennis player Ash Barty’s South Yarra townhouse passed in for $1.85 million at auction on Saturday.
The three-bedroom, two-storey home at 68A Nicholson Street was listed with a quoted price range of $1.85 million to $2 million, has a modern renovation and is located close to Toorak Road’s shops and restaurants.
The townhouse was a Melbourne base for the tennis star, who usually lives in Queensland. She paid $1.88 million for it in April 2022. Melbourne’s property market peaked in March of that year.
Jellis Craig Stonnington listing agent Michael Armstrong said the auction had one bidder.
Private negotiations continued after the property was passed in. “We are now dealing with two interested parties and are hoping to tie the sale up soonish,” he said.
The townhouse passed in after one bid at the bottom of the range, Jellis Craig agent Lily Keating said.
The home had a quoted price range of $1.85 million to $2 million.Credit: Jellis Craig
The auction was one of 1362 scheduled auctions in Melbourne last week. By Saturday evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 64.7 per cent from 1033 reported results, while 261 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
An original home in Macleod sold under the hammer for $1,361,000 to a first-home-buying couple on Saturday.
The house at 58 Edward Street was listed with a quoted price range of $1.1 million to $1.2 million, and had a reserve of $1.13 million.
The three-bedroom property still has its original 1950s features and needed some renovation, but is ready to live in; the large backyard and central location proved to be popular features.
“It was incredibly emotional for the family who have owned this home since 1954; the elderly mother has gone into full-time care,” Ray White Macleod listing agent Brett Schembri said.
The auction began on a vendor bid of $1.1 million, and the second bid of $1.2 million shot the price well past the reserve.
“I think the bidder had hoped it would be a knockout bid but unfortunately for them, it wasn’t, and the auction was pretty aggressive after that,” Schembri said.
There were four bidders, two of which were intent on “locking horns and battling it out”, said Schembri.
The underbidder was a local family looking for more space, and the successful buyers were a local young couple buying their first home.
“The young couple had missed out on a few properties this past year, so they were rapt, and really happy to secure a home in such a good spot.”
Schembri said there has been a lack of large, stand-alone houses available in the past 12 months.
“There have been plenty of townhouses and units but not these big family homes like this one.”
In Seaford, a partially renovated home sold for $782,000, $222,000 more than its reserve.
The house at 10 Hummerstone Road is walking distance to the beach but “in need of a new bathroom, laundry, and a paint job,” and drew a crowd of over 150 people and 19 interested parties, O’Brien Real Estate listing agent Mark Burke.
“The bidding opened with a bid of $650,000 and the property was on the market straight away. After delivering the killer blow, only eight bidders remained,” he said.
The auction was primarily fought out between investors and first home buyers, and eventually sold to a Sydney investor who is looking to renovate.
“Sydney investors still see the Melbourne market as cheap with a lot of potential for growth and take much more risk than local investors,” Burke said.
Burke said he noticed a change in the market over the past eight weeks.
“As soon as there was talk of a possible interest rate cut, it was enough to make people very excited,” he said.
AMP chief economist Shane Oliver agreed that talk of interest rate cuts created a “boost” to the market.
However, given the upcoming election generating uncertainty and ongoing mortgage stress, the market won’t drastically change soon, he said.
“We are seeing the very early stages of a recovery, but it will be a while to go yet,” Oliver said.