By Melissa Heagney
A holidaymaker in Europe bought a three-bedroom terrace in Brunswick for $1,575,000 on Saturday, after it passed in on her opening bid of $1.55 million.
The woman negotiated the sale of 113 Weston Street over the phone, having just disembarked from a flight from Malta to London.
The terrace, which also had a separate studio, had been popular during inspections, but interested buyers remained silent when Jellis Craig Brunswick director and auctioneer Mitchell Boys called for offers.
The eventual buyer made an opening bid of $1.55 million over the phone, and those at the auction in-person ignoring a call for a follow-up offer of $1.57 million.
With no other offers, the property passed in to the vacationing bidder, who then negotiated the $1,575,000 sale price. The home had been advertised with a $1.5 million to $1.65 million price range.
The crowd remained silent when Jellis Craig Brunswick director and auctioneer Mitchell Boys called for bids.Credit: Melissa Heagney
Boys said rising interest rates, lifted for the sixth consecutive month on Tuesday, were hitting buyers in the hip pocket.
“It’s just about affordability at the moment and that makes sense to me,” Boys said.
The Brunswick home was one of 654 Melbourne properties scheduled for auction on Saturday. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 63.6 per cent from 503 reported results, while 36 auctions were withdrawn.
Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
A Beaumaris house, owned by the same family since it was built in 1971, sold under the hammer for $1,707,000, above the $1.67 million reserve.
The three-bedroom house at 1 Cherbourg Avenue was completely original, and featured orange carpet which was considered the height of fashion in the 1970s.
Four bidders fought for the keys after bidding opened at $1.5 million, and the winning offer was made by a young family.
Hodges Real Estate Beaumaris selling agent Kevin Pleysier said the vendors were extremely happy that the home was being passed onto another family.
The buyers plan to renovate the untouched gem, which Pleysier noted was in amazing condition for its age.
“The building inspector said to me that he’s never seen anything like it in all his years of work,” he said.
In Seddon, a three-bedroom house held in the one family for 71 years, sold for $1,355,000, well above the advertised reserve of $1.05 million.
The vendor’s grandparents bought 98 Albert Street when they moved to Australia in the 1950s. The home had remained in the family ever since, and had been an investment property for the past 12 years, Ray White Glenroy auctioneer Stefan Stella said.
Bidding opened on the reserve of $1.05 million, and three bidders competed. Quick $20,000, $10,000 and $5000 offers took the home to its sale price.
“A young, local family bought it,” Stella said. “They drove past it every day for six years and were really excited when it came up for sale.”
A two-bedroom apartment in an art deco style building in Elwood sold for $1.13 million, above the $1 million to $1.1 million guide.
Two bidders competed for the unit at 3/101 Addison Street, and it sold to the man who made the opening bid of $950,000.
“The buyer was from South Yarra and always wanted to be bayside,” selling agent Sam Gamon from Chisholm & Gamon Elwood said. “He came to the auction with a coffee in his hand so he’s already gotten into the Elwood lifestyle.”
In Brighton East, a stunning five-bedroom house at 183 South Road sold for $3.71 million, in one of the biggest auctions of the weekend.
The two-storey home sold more than $200,000 above the reserve to a family with two young children, who only inspected the property for the first time on auction day.
Kay & Burton director Alex Schiavo said two bidders made more than 20 offers on the home.
“Two very interested parties took part in the bidding, pushing the sale price $210,000 above the vendor’s reserve price,” Schiavo said.
While there were successful sales, not all properties sold under the hammer. A unique four-bedroom home at 95 Neill Street, Carlton, passed in on a vendor bid of $2.6 million, at the bottom of the $2.6 million to $2.8 million range.
The home was once a lodge for the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes and last sold in 2017 for $2,061,000, records show.
Brad Teal Woodards’ Brad Teal said he was surprised that the historic and beautiful home had not sold. It will be advertised for private sale.