An Armadale single-fronted home sold for $1.51 million after auction on Saturday, $40,000 below the lower end of its price guide, after passing in on a vendor bid.
The two-to-three-bedroom solid brick Victorian home at 13 Rose Street passed in on a vendor bid of $1.55 million but sold in the hours afterwards to one of the two registered bidders. The property had a price range of $1.55 million to $1,625,000.
“While it wasn’t the bidding frenzy we’d hoped for, the outcome was achieved all the same,” said auctioneer and lead listing agent James Paull from Kay & Burton in Stonnington.
It’s a result that Paull is observing more regularly.
“We are seeing a degree of apprehension at the moment at auctions where people will wait and see what happens, and this was one of those scenarios,” he said. “But because we were anticipating that, we moved straight away and were able to close the sale.”
The sale for the home, close to Beatty Avenue, was secured over the phone by a retiree new to the Armadale area.
“She was looking for a spacious property with low-maintenance land,” Paull 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clearance rate of 61.2 per cent from 972 reported results of the 1372 auctions across the week, while 119 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
Elsewhere, it was an emotionally charged auction at 13 Beechville Place in Craigieburn, with “screams of joy from both sides when the hammer came down”, lead selling agent and auctioneer Trish Orrico, of Ray White Craigieburn, said.
With a price guide of $480,000 to $510,000, the three-bedroom home sold to a family with two young children at $585,000, “a result well above the reserve”, Orrico said.
The buyers, looking to move closer to family, outbid four others – a mix of investors, young couples and first-home buyers – in a fifteen-minute auction.
“It started fast-paced and then it was a battle between two bidders trying to buy their first home at the end,” Orrico said.
“The buyers had missed out on many auctions with us over the last two months, so it was great to see them finally secure a home.”
It was also a stellar result for the vendors, who Orrico said had put their heart and soul into the sale process, capping off a promising start to the day.
“There were good vibes. The sun was out, it was beautiful, really great crowd and a fantastic result for the vendors and the buyers,” she said.
There was also a good result in Briar Hill for a first home buyer who secured the keys of the spacious, four-bedroom family home at 2 Hibiscus Avenue for $965,000, which was $140,000 above reserve.
“The bidding started at $820,000, which was actually the reserve price,” said lead agent and auctioneer Daniel Cobern from Jellis Craig Greensborough. “It was competitive bidding from then on.”
Initially rising in $10,000 bids and then dropping to bids of $5000, the five-minute auction attracted five bidders including first-home buyers, downsizers, young couples and those looking to move from the city.
“The successful bidders were a young couple from Richmond looking for a tree change,” Cobern said. “They had been looking for a home off and on for two years, so they were thrilled.”
Cobern said the property had performed well, with about 150 people inspecting it over the four-week campaign – many of whom were drawn to the mid-century home’s design.
“It has high ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, lots of natural light and exposed timber and brick. It was also partially styled for the sale, which I think helped,” Cobern said.
Chief economist of PRD Diaswati Mardiasmo said the RBA’s decision last week to keep the cash rate at 4.35 per cent contributed to what she described as a “low clearance rate for the Melbourne auction market this week”.
“Before the announcement, people weren’t sure what decision would be made, and this uncertainty can make some people think, ‘I better get in now,’” she said.
“Now, though, with the Reserve Bank not meeting again until February, buyers feel as if there is no rush to buy a home.”
Mardiasmo said that this could be the perfect time as there are fewer bidders.
“So if you’ve got your finances in order, it’s the time to strike,” she said.