Herald Sun Real Estate auction blog: Live streams and rolling updates from the auction market
A lucky cat bought good fortune to a Cheltenham sale, as reserves were smashed across the city. Watch the live streams and see our auction results.
Property reserves were smashed in spectacular fashion across Victoria on our biggest winter auction week on record.
A two-bedroom villa unit in Beaumaris soared beyond expectations to a $1.151m sale, while a Chinese lucky cat brought good fortune to the auction of an auspicious address in Cheltenham.
A massive 1580 homes are scheduled to go under the hammer this week, soaring past the season’s previous record in 2015, when 1064 auctions took place during the last week of August, Real Estate Institute of Victoria figures show.
We were on the ground at 4 Merinda Court, Frankston, 16B Wallace Cres, Beaumaris, and the very auspicious auction of 88A Devon St, Cheltenham — where a red carpet greeted bidders.
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141 BROUGHAM ST, KEW
Buyers who had missed out on auctions earlier in the day later placed the winning bid on a two-bedroom house in Kew.
Jellis Craig Boroondara’s Lloyd Lawton said an underbidder from one of his other listings in Surrey Hills eventually walked away happy with the keys to the single-front property at 141 Brougham St.
“We had two bidders and it was on the market at $1.325m and sold for $1.35m” Mr Lawton said.
He noted the Super Saturday of auctions had “spread buyers out” between multiple auctions.
“Buyers will be racing between different auctions all weekend,” he added.
3 BOURNE RD, GLEN IRIS
A luxury family home in Glen Iris catapulted onto the market with a huge opening bid that was $250,000 over the vendors reserve price.
An eager bidder didn’t waste any time placing the opener of $3.75m, and a local family buyer snapped up the four-bedroom house for an impressive $4.28m.
Fletcher’s Michael Rosano said three bidders were in the mix for the poolside entertainer at 3 Bourne Rd.
“(It’s) a fully renovated Californian bungalow without a thing to do, you could move straight in. It retained its period charm and was renovated and extended recently,” he noted.
88A DEVON ST, CHELTENHAM
A four-bedroom property with an address promising “double luck” in Chinese culture also sold under the hammer for $1.565m.
The vendor’s own giant lucky cat watched on from a red carpet as bidders fought it out for the newly built townhouse at 88a Devon St.
The auction drew a massive crowd of more than 100 people, just as crowd caps on auctions and inspections were removed earlier this week.
An opening bid of $1.45m put the home “well and truly on the market”, according to Buxton Mentone’s Trevor Bowen
He said he expected the listing to draw “strong bidding” for its sought-after location in Cheltenham’s “Golden Triangle”.
“The quality of the home’s finishes and the size was a real drawcard,” Mr Bowen said.
“The purchases were a lovely local family and it shows how much people love the Golden Triangle, because they are moving from just a few streets away.”
Mr Bowen had kicked off the property’s campaign with midnight inspection the minute inspections were given the green light to resume after Melbourne’s snap lockdown, giving buyers a chance to view the home in a late-night VIP event.
16B WALLACE CRES, BEAUMARIS
Earlier in Beaumaris, a local investor snapped up the two-bedroom villa unit.
The 16B Wallace Crescent listing notched a $1.151m sale, leaving the sellers $925,000 reserve in the dust.
Ray White Cheltenham director Kevin Chokshi said the buyer had plans to lease it out before eventually downsizing to live at the property.
“It’s a property that opens up to a large pool of buyers. We had a real mix of first-home buyers, downsizers and investors,” Mr Chokshi said.
4 MERINDA COURT, FRANKSTON
A hotly contested 1970s house with a pool in Frankston sold for $81,000 above reserve.
It took just $1000 for the winning bidder to knock out the competition and take home the keys to the four-bedroom pad.
EYS Auctioneer director Fabian Sanelli sold the property for $781,000 on behalf of Ray White Frankston’s Andrew Condon.
The auctioneer warned the 10 registered bidders and crowd of neighbours that Melbourne’s real estate was in its “hottest market since 1998”, as demand continued to soar.
“Rest assured, if you don’t bid today your journey starts all over again tomorrow,” Mr Sanelli said.
124E BROADHURST AVE, RESERVOIR
Meanwhile in Reservoir, a home that went live during lockdown without professional photography still managed to soar $65,000 beyond the vendor’s expectations – notching an $815,000 sale.
Buckingham & Company Estate Agent’s Ryan Buckingham had asked the vendor to take pictures on his phone to launch the listing “as soon as possible” during the recent restrictions.
““It was an interesting strategy, but in these circumstances you try and do things a bit differently, and it worked out well,” Mr Buckingham said.
“The pictures looked good but we did update them properly after lockdown.”
“(The market) is a moving target at the moment and we can get locked up any week, so we’ve learnt to adapt.”
A first-home buyer couple, who were drawn to the home’s sun-soaked living room, score the home.
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Herald Sun Real Estate auction blog catch up
It’s the third Super Saturday in a row of more than 1000 auctions, and data suggests the unseasonably strong streak is set to continue.
The figures are in stark contrast to the winter peaks of the previous two years, where just 520 homes went under the hammer in the biggest week of 2020, and 695 in 2019.
Ray White Victoria chief executive Stephen Dullens said the aftermath of Victoria’s most recent lockdown had driven the spike in activity, in addition to a rush of vendors and buyers who were hoping to get in before stamp duty changes came into force on July 1.
Homebuyers can currently save 50 per cent in stamp duty on a new or off-the-plan property of $1m or less, and up to 25 per cent when purchasing existing residential properties.
It’s left buyers with more in their budget to splash on a property, but the government’s Covid-driven concession will expire at the end of the financial year.
“There’s been a huge amount of interest on properties in the sub-$1m price range,” Mr Dullens said.
“Everyone has thrown out the rule book in term of winter and school holidays being the quiet period.”
“It’s been a bit more challenging to get things listed and some (auctions) have been pulled forward or backwards and that’s taken a few weeks to come through.”
“But vendors are keen to take advantage and our metrics are as strong as they’ve ever been.”
Restrictions eased further just in time for this Saturday’s auction action, allowing crowds of more than 50 to attend outdoor auctions and more than 10 people at inspections as of Thursday 11:59pm.
Another 1200 auctions are scheduled for next week, while a further 1080 homes will go under the hammer the week following, according to the REIV.
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Originally published as Herald Sun Real Estate auction blog: Live streams and rolling updates from the auction market
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