By Shona Hendley
A family home in Kew sold for $5.78 million after auction on Saturday, less than it last sold for in 2022.
The five-bedroom home at 5 Tregarron Avenue fetched $6 million in late 2022, records show.
The house was listed with a price guide of between $5.4 million and $5.9 million.
It is set on 1305 square metres in a cul-de-sac of period homes and has no heritage restrictions.
Marshall White’s Scarlett Hang and Daniel Bradd had the listing.
Bradd said there were three bidders and the bidding started at $5.6 million, and rose to $5.65 million, at which point he paused proceedings to talk to the vendor. He returned to a handful more $5000 bids and a $20,000 rise, taking the home to $5.7 million, at which point it passed in.
The highest bidder did not buy the property. Instead, a local family upgrading raised their offer to $5.78 million in post-auction negotiations, Bradd said.
He said the home was updated about 10 to 15 years ago and was in good order but some interested parties thought they might make cosmetic updates.
Bradd acknowledged that the previous, higher sale had been at the tail end of the COVID-affected property market, to a buyer who was overseas and bought it sight unseen.
“There has been a little bit of a change in the market since what was happening in COVID.”
He said the reserve, in the end, was $5.78 million.
“They would have liked to have recovered their costs, but they were understanding the market is the market.”
Elsewhere, an investor paid $1.33 million for Abbotsford landmark “Dorothy Terrace”, which was redesigned and renovated by award-winning architect Amy Muir and went under the hammer on Saturday.
The 1888-built two-bedroom property at 42 Lulie Street, walking distance to Victoria Park, had a price range of $1.25 million to $1.3 million, with three registered bidders who all took part.
The auction was fought between an investor, a young family that had already made a prior offer of $1.25 million which was rejected, and a “surprise” bidder that selling agent Lee Muddle of Jellis Craig only met on the day of the auction.
“She popped up on the day and put her hand up, but it was a nice surprise,” Muddle said.
The bidding opened at $1.26 million, then increased in $10,000 and $5000 increments.
“It then dropped away so we had a half-time break and came back a few minutes later where the next bid was the reserve of $1.32 million,” Muddle said.
The home was ultimately bought by the investor, who plans to move in for a period before renting it out.
“Seeing an investor bid isn’t something we have experienced a lot of lately in the area,” Muddle said.
The property was one of 1157 scheduled for auction in Melbourne in the past week.
By Sunday evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 67 per cent from 852 reported results throughout the week, while 101 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
In Fitzroy North, a turn-key terrace was passed in at auction at $1.36 million but sold 20 minutes later by private negotiation at the reserve price of $1.39 million.
With a price range of $1.35 million to $1.45 million, the terrace at 29 Rae Street attracted interest from three first home buyers. All were registered to bid at the weekend’s auction, but only one ultimately did, offering the first and only bid of $1.36 million.
“Two of the three registered bidders bought other homes prior to Saturday’s auction,” said David Sanguinedo the lead agent from Jellis Craig.
This is evidence of a market trend Sanguinedo has noticed more since Reserve Bank’s interest rate cut last month.
“We had 80 people come through during the campaign and they were just falling off, not because they weren’t interested but because they were buying other properties, hopping on whatever they could buy before auction,” Sanguinedo said.
The buyer, a young professional first home buyer drawn to the property’s open-plan living and location, also felt this sense of urgency.
“He wanted to buy something now because he thinks soon he will be priced out of the market,” Sanguinedo said.
PRD chief economist Diaswati Mardiasmo said she was pleased with Melbourne’s auction results.
“It’s great to see that the clearance rate is going up for the third week and stimulating more demand, but it’s not the frenzy people were expecting,” she said.
This, Mardiasmo believes is a good thing.
“A frenzy could be worrisome for inflation. The current increase is the perfect moving forward economic scenario,” she said.
In Moonee Ponds, a Californian bungalow sold for $2.26 million in a fiercely competitive auction between two local families.
While there were four registered bidders, only two ultimately took part. The competitive nature of the auction was dominated by the eventual buyer and the underbidder, who both wanted to secure their dream home.
“Two buyers ready to bid from the beginning and performed strongly throughout. The other two parties couldn’t get in,” said Milo Rasinac, managing partner and auctioneer at McDonald Upton.
With a price guide of $2 million to $2.2 million, 14 Kipling Street sold above its reserve of $2.16 million as a crowd of about 100 people watched.
“Homes in the Moonee Ponds area always attract great interest and crowds,” Rasinac said.
The successful bidder was enticed by the large open living areas, proximity to schools and parks, and additional car accommodation.
“The home was also beautifully presented, which they loved too,” Rasinac said.
The bidding opened at $2 million and went up in $20,000 increments to the reserve, when the bids lowered to $10,000, $5000 and finally $2000.
After the auction, the new owners consoled with the underbidders.
“They went up and shook their hands and said sorry – it was a really nice thing to see,” Rasinac said.
With Elizabeth Redman