By Melissa Heagney
Two stylish Fitzroy North homes owned by a brother and sister who lived next door to each other for more than a decade, sold in two separate auctions on Saturday, with each selling for more than $1.5 million.
The two homes inside a refurbished Victorian shopfront attracted a large crowd of onlookers, despite the rain that hit Melbourne early Saturday morning.
Jellis Craig Fitzroy Auctioneer Nigel Harry works with the crowd at the auctions of 698 and 700 Brunswick Road, Fitzroy North.Credit: Penny Stephens
The first auction of 700 Brunswick Street, a two-bedroom home owned by Folk Architects director Tim Wilson, sold for $1,632,500, after five bidders competed for the keys.
A young professional became the new owner after making a final bid of $2500 to seal the deal.
The second property, Fran Wilson’s two-bedroom home at 698 Brunswick Street, sold to a young couple for $1,531,000, after another five bidders competed. The couple’s final $500 bid ensured they won the unique home.
Both properties, which had been architecturally redesigned by Mr Wilson and decorated by Ms Wilson, sold above their asking price ranges.
Tim and Fran Wilson after the auction of their side-by-side homes.Credit: Penny Stephens
Though they had spent 14 years living within shouting distance of each other, they were happy to move on from the homes.
“It’s bitter-sweet,” Mr Wilson said after the auctions. “But we’re really pleased because we think the buyers will get along well and that was one of the things we were hoping for.”
The siblings are now living in Northcote with their respective partners and families, but are still not too far apart, living just five minutes from each other.
“It was a great result for two beautiful people,” Jellis Craig Fitzroy agent and auctioneer Nigel Harry added. “The market has been property-specific and anything with period fabric or warehouse-like is immensely popular.”
The auctions were two of 1205 scheduled in Melbourne on Saturday, making it the city’s third “Super Saturday” in a row, with more than 1000 auctions also scheduled the previous two weekends. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 71.5 per cent from 811 reported results, while 65 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
Agents said properties that have wide appeal were still selling well under the hammer, despite the rise in auctions, though some are now passing in.
North-west of the city, a four-bedroom home at 4 Locke Street, Essendon, sold for $3,635,000, $735,000 above the reserve, after four local families “fiercely” competed for the keys.
The bidding topped the $2.9 million reserve on the opening bid of $3 million, with the families, who all lived within a few minutes of the home, trading mostly $10,000 and $5000 bids until it sold.
Brad Teal Woodards Essendon director Bruce Warburton said family home listings, especially those close to schools, were selling very well.
“There’s a distinct lack of them on the market,” Mr Warburton said. “There’s definitely still good demand.”
The vendors, who had lived in the home for the past 22 years, were downsizing, Mr Warburton said.
On the other side of the city, two townhouses at 42a and 42b Burke Road, Malvern East sold under the hammer for $2,141,000, topping the $1.8 million-$1.98 million price guide.
Three bidders, including a developer, a builder and a young couple, competed for the properties which were on 767 square metres of land and offered the opportunity to build a large home.
Bidding opened with a vendor bid of $1.8 million, with the home called on the market at $1.94 million.
The winning bidder was the builder, who is planning to use the property, which has tenants, as an investment while looking at what else can be done on the land.
Marshall White Stonnington auctioneer Hugh Tomlinson said the vendors had owned the property as an investment for the past 20 years.
In the city’s bayside region, a two-bedroom unit at 3/18 Sims Street, Sandringham sold under the hammer for $1,361,000, after three bidders competed.
Buxton Real Estate Sandringham’s Misty White said two downsizers and a buyers’ advocate traded bids after an opening vendor bid of $1.1 million, at the lower end of the $1.1 million to $1.2 million price guide.
A downsizer was the buyer and was “rapt” with the purchase, Ms White said.
In Kew East, a three-bedroom home passed in before later selling for $2,166,800, just above the price guide of $1.9 million to $2.09 million.
Though three bidders competed for the property at 36 Elm Grove, it passed in on a bid of $2.1 million.
Kay & Burton South Yarra partner Jamie Mi said the buyers, a young newlywed couple from St Kilda East, negotiated for the keys afterwards.
“The bidding began at $1.8 million and $10,000 bids pushed the price to $2.09m – just $10,000 shy of the vendor’s reserve price,” Ms Mi said.
A two-bedroom semi-detached home at 1 Ormsby Grove, Toorak, also passed in, after failing to secure a single bid.
Bound Real Estate director Rhys Nuttall said, though there were interested parties, one was waiting for their own property to sell before making an offer and the decision was made to pass the property in without a vendor bid.
The property will be advertised again with an asking price range between $2.1 million and $2.3 million and is expected to sell within the week.
“In my view, we’ve had the strongest market we’ve ever seen and prices have increased dramatically over a short period of time, it really needs to come off in some ways,” Mr Nuttall said.
“There’s obviously world events, you can’t do a lot about, and interest rate increases are on the horizon, so I just see it softening now, and we’ll have a good steady market.”