By Alexandra Middleton
A five-bedroom home in Brunswick passed in at $1.62 million after two vendor bids at auction on Saturday.
A handful of people endured Melbourne’s wet weather to attend the auction of 24 Sturrock Street, which had a listed price guide of $1.6 million to $1.7 million. Just one of three expected bidders ended up making an appearance and did not make an offer.
It was one of 793 homes scheduled to go under the hammer 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Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 61.8 per cent from 553 reported results, while 79 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
With the small but reluctant crowd showing no sign of kicking off the auction, Ray White Brunswick auctioneer Jamil Allouche placed a vendor bid of $1.6 million before taking a short break to confer with the vendors. He returned to place a second vendor bid of $1.62 million, at which the property was passed in.
Allouche said one interested party, a young Brunswick professional, entered post-auction negotiations despite not placing a bid, and was confident it would sell in the coming days.
Allouche said he was seeing more buyers put in offers before auction or purchase via private sales.
24 Sturrock St, Brunswick passed in at auction.Credit: Simon Schluter
“In the past, people would just want to go all the way [at auction] but what’s happening now is, it’s kind of become a cycle where buyers are going, ‘I see properties selling beforehand, so I better get in early’,” he said.
“We’re seeing some caution with some buyers ... I’ve just seen a slight drop-off over the past eight weeks.”
Allouche said buyers had become more picky, causing highly priced properties to linger on the market for longer than usual.
“The days on market have blown out which means ... you’ve got the older [properties] overlapping with the new stock coming in, so it will create a bit of a glut,” he said.
24 Sturrock St Brunswick passed in at auction.Credit: Simon Schluter
“It’s going to hurt overpriced vendors massively because, for the properties that are priced correctly, those highly priced or overpriced properties will just help them sell.”
In Carlton North, a three-bedroom terrace was also passed in and purchased by a first-home buyer couple for the reserve price of $1.85 million after auction.
The first-home buyers, from Melbourne’s north, won the right to negotiate for 1015 Drummond Street after placing the highest bid of $1.71 million. They paid an extra $140,000 during post-auction negotiations to secure the property.
Another party had put forward an opening bid of $1.7 million but did not counter the couple’s $10,000 rise.
Nelson Alexander listing agent Isabelle McEwan Marion said the couple had been looking for a home in Carlton North for nine months and kept missing out.
“Their dream was Carlton North, so for them to actually get the suburb they thought they probably weren’t going to get, I think they were pretty happy,” she said.
Meanwhile, in Highett, a young couple moving from the country to Melbourne outbid two developers to purchase a three-bedroom home for $1.61 million at auction on Saturday.
Ray White auctioneer Kevin Chokshi said bidding was slow to start for 39 Donald Street, which had a reserve of $1.5 million.
The buyers, who had a representative bidding on their behalf, eventually put forward an opening bid of $1.5 million, matching the property’s reserve.
A slow but competitive auction ensued, with two parties trading bids of $25,000 and $10,000.
The auction picked up when a third party entered the race at $1.57 million, before the price was quickly driven up and sold under the hammer for $110,000 above reserve.
Choksi said the buyers, a young couple from regional Victoria, planned to live in the property before knocking it down to build their dream family home.
He said the buyers had also been considering houses in neighbouring Brighton and Hampton, but decided on Highett in the end for its growth potential.
“They still think Highett is very underpriced for what it is and what it has to offer, and there’s a lot of growth that will happen in that area,” he said.
Further south in Frankston North, a daughter bidding on behalf of her downsizing mother beat three other parties to a three-bedroom home for $590,000 at auction.
OBrien Real Estate auctioneer Mark Burke placed a vendor bid of $500,000 before two parties, both first-home buyers, traded offers of $10,000 and $5000 for 39 Aleppo Crescent.
The buyer eventually joined bidding, as did a fourth unexpected bidder who threw out offers right until the end, driving the sale price above the listed price guide of $525,000 to $577,500.
The winning bidder placed a final $2000 offer to purchase the renovated property for $590,000 on her mother’s behalf, who was local to Frankston and looking to downsize.
While a downsizer nabbed this property, Burke said first home buyers were making up about 70 per cent of the Frankston market at present.