By Tom Carey
A Doncaster East entertainer’s delight passed in at auction on Saturday after only one bid was placed, but sold after for $2.82 million.
Standing on 1600 square metres, the five-bedroom home at 59 Deep Creek Drive features a tennis court, pool, sauna and triple garage.
More than 50 people were invited inside the home for the auction, including three registered bidders.
An opening bid of $2.78 million was the only bid made during proceedings. The bid was made by a family with older children, while the other two bidders – both young families – did not participate.
The property was passed in at $2.78 million. After the auction, the successful bidder and the vendor were able to negotiate the final sale price of $2.82 million.
The home was on the market for the first time since it was last sold for $670,000 in 1993. The previous vendors had lived in the home for 22 years before they rented out the property to a younger family. Small refurbishments were made to the home before the sale.
“I suggested to the owners to consider doing some work to the home before selling, and they said yes”, said Jellis Craig Doncaster’s Chris Savvides. “Making it look nice and fresh just made a massive difference.
“These lifestyle properties on larger blocks are certainly in demand, offering so much space and having all the luxuries that people want.”
The auction was one of 535 scheduled in Melbourne on Saturday.
By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 73.4 per cent from 368 reported results, while 33 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
In Wantirna South, the vendors of 39 Somerset Street shed tears of joy following a $1.551 million sale that exceeded its reserve price by over $300,000.
The four-bedroom property was met with impressive demand before the auction, with a price guide set for $1.1 to $1.2 million.
Ray White auctioneer Brad Spencer was floored when the auction’s starting bid matched the reserve price. “I got thrown off by the first bid. I was like, ‘oh crap’. I was not ready for that based on the feedback we had from the buyers throughout the campaign,” said Spencer.
Five bidders participated, four family owner-occupiers and the other an investor. Two $50,000 bids were made to bring the property to $1.3 million, from which point increments were $20,000 or less. At $1.4 million, only two bidders were left fighting for the home in front of a crowd of 100 people.
The successful buyer was pleased to have bought the home after previous failed attempts at buying in the Knox area.
“They’ve missed out on four auctions over the last four weeks. This one was probably one of those ones where they would have been pretty upset if they missed out because it was the youngest house on the street,” said Spencer.
“It has a good floor plan, so all you have to do is move in and maybe do some personal changes down the track.”
In Yarraville, 192 Stephen Street was surprisingly sold for $835,000 after it was passed in at auction on Saturday.
Another buyer who watched, but did not participate in the auction, negotiated with the vendor to buy the home for $835,000.
“The first bidder walked out the door and said, “I’m not paying any more”. Then, we negotiated with another buyer. Ten minutes later, it was settled for $835,000. It is a story of persistence and hanging in there,” said Hockingstuart director Leo Dardha.
The price guide for the two-bedroom home was $800,000 to $850,000. The first bid of the auction was $750,000. Two first-home buyers competed and after a slow auction, it was passed in for $805,000. Then, the uncommon proceedings led to a sale within the price guide.
The period home is freestanding and renovated with generous outdoor space at its rear.
“It’s a brilliant entry-level buy into the inner west,” said Dardha. “It’s situated within walking distance to the Yarraville village, so you have the lifestyle at your fingertips.”
AMP chief economist Dr Shane Oliver said the pick-up in listings might have encouraged more buyers into the market.
“It’s possible, the talk that interest rates might have peaked [and may have contributed to the high clearance rate]. But time will tell on that. But we’ve seen that before – talk that rates have peaked, and then they keep going up,” he said.
Oliver also said that it is a worry that Melbourne sales remain very low. “Even though the clearance rate improved, there are pretty low sales, which indicates that the overall market is still fairly soft.”