A one-bedroom apartment overlooking the historic Princes Pier in Port Melbourne sold for $785,000 at auction on Saturday, well above its $600,000 reserve.
Eight parties turned out to bid on G02/2 Pier Street, but two competitive buyers fast drove up the price before anyone else had a chance to put forward an offer.
“There were six others that were there that just probably capped out at $600,000,” Cayzer Real Estate Albert Park auctioneer Simon Carruthers said. “It was over pretty quickly.”
The under-bidders, a couple from Melbourne’s west, placed the opening bid of $550,000. They traded bids with the ultimate buyer, from Geelong, who put forward a final $5000 bid to purchase the waterfront apartment for $185,000 above reserve.
Carruthers said the result had exceeded the vendor’s expectations, who had rented out the investment property.
“I can’t think of any other one-bedroom apartment selling for over $700,000,” he said.
G02/2 Pier Street, Port Melbourne, sold for $785,000 at auction on Saturday and boasts waterfront views.Credit: Jason South
The stylish ground-floor property had an initial guide of $500,000 to $550,000. That was raised to $550,000 to $600,000 mid-campaign due to strong buyer interest, Carruthers said.
It was one of 1180 homes scheduled to go under the hammer in Melbourne on Saturday. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 61.2 per cent from 972 reported results across the week, while 119 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
In Cheltenham, a first home buyer couple nabbed a two-bedroom villa for $835,000, outbidding two others.
An advocate representing an interstate investor placed the opening bid of $750,000 for 6 Elman Road. It had a guide of $730,000 to $799,000.
Before long, all three parties were trading bids of $10,000. The underbidder, a mother bidding on behalf of her two daughters, offered up an extra $1000 in the final moments of the auction. She was outbid by the ultimate buyer, also represented by an advocate, who put forward a $4000 increase to purchase the deceased estate. The reserve was $799,000.
Ray White Cheltenham’s Trevor Bowen said buyers were eager to secure a property before year’s end, resulting in competitive auctions.
“You probably won’t see any new stock come on the market after this week, and what stock is left should be highly fought for,” Bowen said.
Meanwhile, a three-bedroom home in Moonee Ponds sold for $1.38 million to a local couple following a rapid-fire auction that lasted just one minute.
Two parties traded a total of 15 bids in a matter of seconds for 11 Murray Street, before the ultimate buyer placed a final $5000 bid at $1,375,000 to purchase the three-bedroom home. It had a reserve of $1,325,000.
Jellis Craig Kensington auctioneer John Morello said the competitive two-party auction was over in just 60 seconds.
“It was the fast and the furious,” Morello said. “The bidding was over in one minute. It’s probably the fastest auction I’ve done in a while.”
The terrace-style home was listed with a price guide of $1.25 million to $1.35 million. It last sold for $1.24 million in 2017, records show.
Morello said an advocate was bidding on behalf of the successful buyers, a professional couple from Moonee Ponds who had been looking to upsize to a larger home for the past three months. They outbid a family looking to move from Parkville.
“It was probably at the top of [the buyers’] budget because they missed out on a few other properties recently. They certainly stretched themselves for it, and it paid off,” he said
In Eltham, a local couple were the sole bidders on a four-bedroom house, which sold for $1,475,000 in post-auction negotiations after a second bidder failed to turn up.
Jellis Craig Eltham auctioneer Tom Kurtschenko kicked off the auction for 81 Kalbar Road with a vendor bid of $1.44 million. It was at the bottom of the listed price guide of $1.44 million to $1.52 million.
The couple placed a $10,000 bid, and the property was passed in at $1.45 million.
The buyers offered up another $25,000 during private negotiations to purchase the home, which boasts a pool and spacious alfresco-style outdoor area, reaching its reserve of $1,475,000.
Kurtschenko said the vendors, who were using the home as an investment property and were moving interstate, were happy with the sale price.
“We’ve had a lot of homes on the market around here and just as we’re getting towards the end of the year, with only a couple of weeks left of listings, the available properties are starting to drop down a bit,” he said. “We are seeing a little bit more competition coming back onto a lot of homes.”
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