A Cape Cod-style home in Forest Hill sold for $1,405,000 to a young couple at auction on Saturday.
As the mercury rose in Melbourne on the weekend, so did the bidding for the four-bedroom house at 4 Wendy Street, which had a $1.15 million to $1.25 million price guide. The home last sold for $245,000 in 1998, records show.
Ray White Mount Waverley’s Max Turner said the bidding took off from the outset. It started at $1.15 million.
“There were four bidders, three very active with the reserve being reached in a matter of minutes,” Turner said.
Bidding increased in $20,000 and then $10,000 bids, and the home was secured by a young local couple drawn to its design. The reserve was $1,225,000.
“The home is well known by people in the area because while it’s a popular style of home in Massachusetts, it isn’t common in Melbourne and quite unique,” Turner said.
One of the only other Cape Cod-style properties the couple had seen for sale was in Oakleigh.
“The buyers bid on that one but they missed out,” Turner said.
“Now though, after over a year of looking, they have their Saturdays back after securing the Wendy Street property.”
With free icy poles, the auction generated a crowd of interested parties and neighbours, including one of Turner’s youngest-ever bidders.
“A young girl from the neighbourhood tried to bid $100 for the home; I didn’t hold her to that though,” he said.
Over in Mordialloc, a three-bedroom heritage home at 78 Chute Street sold under the hammer for $1.2 million, in a quick and fast-paced auction.
“We had two bidders go back and forth, starting with increments of $15,000, $10,000 and then $5,000,” said lead agent and auctioneer Ashley Patane from O’Brien Real Estate Chelsea.
With a price guide of $1.2 million to $1.25 million, the result was well received by the vendors and the successful bidders – a young family relocating from Box Hill.
“They were ecstatic,” Patane said. “They’d only seen the home for the first time the morning of the auction but fell in love with the property’s charm, character and its position right across the road from Kavanagh Reserve, which is perfect for their growing family.”
While the bidding was strong, Patane said the crowd, which huddled under the shade, wasn’t large, due to the heat.
“The auction started at 11.30am, so the sun was out, and it was very hot,” he said.
“Even the coffee van, which normally gets a lot of business, was pretty quiet. He might need to add iced coffee to the menu.”
In Leopold, an investor secured the keys to 5 Bardoo Court, for $670,000 – some $90,000 above the reserve.
“The owners were ecstatic with the result,” said Alex Ilyin, lead agent and auctioneer of Ray White Highton.
The bidding took place between two groups – a first home buyer on-site and an investor over the phone.
“They were actively both bidding, Ilyin said.
“It went up quickly to the $600,000 mark, and then when we called it on the market at $600,000 it just went back and forth between them, with the investor ultimately being the successful bidder at $670,000.”
Ilyin said the result was evidence of the appetite for family-home style properties in Leopold and its surrounds.
“It’s a buyer’s market right now. Family homes, sub-$500,000 in Leopold, or even further in, in Newcomb, perform really well,” he said.
“The timing is perfect right now too, with people wanting to be able to go away over Christmas and not having to worry. They just want it done and dusted.”
By Saturday evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 60.7 per cent from 868 reported results over the week, while 101 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said Melbourne’s soft clearance rate was largely due to the RBA’s decision to hold interest rates.
“The interest rates are keeping buyers at bay, while at the same time, there is an increase in distress sales,” he said. “This means listings are running higher than at the same time last year, which creates these weak clearance rates.”
Until the RBA meet again next year, Oliver doesn’t believe much will change.
“It’ll just be more of the same,” he said.