Melbourne defies the lockdown with $6.525 million top sale
Despite the lockdown, Melbourne topped the nation’s weekend auction sales with a $6.525 million home sale in Kew.
Despite the lockdown, Melbourne topped the nation’s weekend auction sales with a $6.525 million home sale in Kew.
Kay & Burton had been running an expressions of interest (EOI) campaign which they switched to a private Saturday afternoon online auction. The pivot paid off with the sale of the six-bedroom, six-bathroom contemporary house. The listing agents Jamie Mi and Sam Wilkinson had a $5.8 million to $6.2 million price guide.
“We had had several good quality offers before the May 29 EOI close date, which triggered going to a virtual auction, with only registered buyers who had made an prior offer invited to participate,” Mi says.
REALas, the ANZ price predictor website, suggested it was worth $6.18 million.
The McEvoy Street house, which came with an $800,000 construction estimate in 2009, had traded at $4.2 million in 2015. Set on a 780sq m block, the four-level home has views to South Yarra and the city. The home comes with three fireplaces, zoned heating and airconditioning.
There was another prestige sale elsewhere across the locked down capital. The price was not disclosed for Denver, a four-bedroom, three-bathroom Edwardian home in Malvern East. The Glenbrook Ave home had come with $5.5 million to $6.05 million hopes, having sold five years ago at $4,685,000.
Melbourne buyers agent Mal James noted that about a quarter of prestige listings had been postponed to next weekend, and a quarter were now for sale via private treaty. About a quarter had sold before the lockdown with the final quarter of prestige offerings bought through Zoom auctions on Saturday.
“The market has probably not changed from the last two weeks with prices still rising, just not as quickly as March,” James advised. He noted new supply was low with winter approaching.
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A class apart
Melbourne’s prestige off-the-plan apartment market is shrugging off the interruptions.
Construction begins in June on the Hampden, Armadale project, with nine three-bedroom residences designed by Rob Mills Architects.
The apartment prices at 2a Hampden Road start at $2.9 million through Mark Wridgway at RT Edgar.
A series of arches across the brick facade reflects RMA’s signature design feature. Mills took his inspiration from the Fendi headquarters in Rome.
Four of the apartments have been sold, with Rob Mills intending to live in one after his forthcoming nuptials, and its completion in 2023.
Last year, Mills found a $4.8 million buyer for his family’s Lorne weekender, but has yet to sell his nearby $9 million Armadale home, a former cardboard factory, given his intention to spend more time in Sydney, where he’s picked up many new clients. They include the recently retired mortgage broker James Symond and wife Amelia who recently secured approval for their $9.5 million home build in Bellevue Hill on the block that cost $13 million last year.
The Symonds’ have secured the $14 million plus sale of their Walsh Bay apartment.
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Canberra leads
The ACT was the strongest weekend auction market, with realestate.com.au advising a 98 per cent success rate from 61 Canberra results. But nothing above $1.5 million.
While Brisbane was the weakest at 69 per cent, it did see a $5.45 million sale at Teneriffe.
The new architect-designed four-bedroom residence displayed “everything desirable in a luxury inner-city home”, its Ray White selling agent Matt Lancashire said. It sits on a 610sq m Walker Avenue holding.
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$15m penthouse
Queensland also saw the $15.25 million sale of the luxury Soul penthouse in Surfers Paradise in an auction on Friday afternoon.
There were five registered bidders, with the successful bidder on the phone when sold by Tolemy Stevens from Harcourts Coastal Prestige, who said the home had never been lived in.
A Queensland auction record was achieved by vendor Andrew Koloadin, who paid $6.5 million for the concrete shell when he bought it from Hong Kong tycoon Tony Fung in 2018.
There had been an off the plan $16.85 million sale by Juniper Property Development to a Queensland businessman in 2006, but it didn’t proceed to settlement.
Crowning the top four floors of the Soul building, the five-bedroom apartment has 1070sq m of space with BDA Architects drawing up the designs.
Koloadin started website hosting business Digital Pacific two decades ago in his bedroom during the dotcom crash of 2000. Beginning with one leased server that cost $99, the business expanded to hosting 150,000 websites. In 2017 the Australian arm of US company Deluxe Corp bought the business in a $52 million deal.
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Maroubra marvel
Sydney’s top sale was $6.45 million in Maroubra with sale of 309 Storey Street some $250,000 above its reserve.
Six local owner-occupiers registered to bid on the six-bedroom house which had a price guide of $5.5 million through Ray White agent Nader Hotait. The property before its rebuild had traded for $330,000 in 1985.
A Federation-style semi-detached house in Manly fetched $6.08 million when two parties competed for the Cliff St offering.
It sold to an expat based in Singapore, one of the five registered bidders.
The property last sold in 2011 for $2.35 million.
There was an $8.1 million vendor bid at a Queens Park auction, an offering of architect Steven Gerendas.
The Arnold St 446sq m block was bought from Waverley Council for $1,320,500 in 2009, with the duplex project becoming a nine-year design and excavation project. There are three bedrooms, all with ensuites.
The four-storey residence went to auction with The Agency’s Ben Collier and Edward Reid with an $8 million guide.
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Volume down
The weekend was set to feature the nation’s second-biggest auction event so far this year, but with the lockdown in force across Victoria volumes fell slightly.
CoreLogic noted the 2930 homes taken to auction was the third highest number this year across the capitals.
Of the 2460 results collected so far, 75 per cent were successful.
“Although clearance rates have eased, they nonetheless remain at boomtime levels,” said DrAndrew Wilson, housing economist at My Housing Market.
Victoria had been scheduled to hold its fifth super Saturday in a row, with 1400 auctions. The state recorded a 94 per cent preliminary clearance rate based on 588 results, according to realestate.com.au.
CoreLogic’s Tim Lawless noted 48 per cent of successful auctions were sold prior to auction in Melbourne. Over the year to date, excluding the February lockdown, the average has been 26 per cent.
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Hot market
The latest Westpac quarterly Housing Pulse confirms most of Australia’s housing markets are in a fully fledged boom with prices 8.5 per cent above their pre-Covid highs.
Turnover nationally is nearly 30 per cent above the pre-Covid peak.
“Everyone is out there looking for any hint of a moderation to this boom,” Westpac senior economist Matthew Hassan said.
“There is nothing but a slight cooling off from red-hot to hot at best, and it is not really a sign things are about to turn cold.”
Hassan calculates stock on market at just 2.8 months of sales against the long-run average of 3.8 months.
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