In Melbourne there were 666 auctions held, with a clearance rate of 75 per cent recorded, compared to 69 per cent last week, and 76 per cent this weekend last year. Of the auctions held, 497 sold and 196 were passed in, 83 of those on a vendor bid. In addition to the auctions held, there were also 365 private sales.
With constrained housing stock levels, family buyers had to dig deep to purchase larger homes on the weekend. Four-bedroom houses, or properties on larger land allotments sold for premium prices with hefty competition.
Buyers who are still looking will be relieved to know that more stock will be pouring onto the market in the coming weeks, as school holidays finish and as we near the uninterrupted run of auction dates after Anzac Day on April 25.
Next week there will be 765 properties going under the hammer.
Auction Results
4 Gracehill Avenue, Burwood. Sold for $652,000 This charming property is more like a small house than a unit. On offer a two-bedroom unit with its own street frontage, no shared driveway and a large landscaped rear garden plus deck, located in the Mount Waverley High School Zone. 30 people watched as the opening bid of $500,000 was soon followed up by a question from the crowd asking if the property was on the market yet. Too soon to tell, the auctioneer then received two bids at the exact same time for $520,000, then $20,000 rises to $560,000, then the first bidder offered $10,000 rises and this continued back and forth up to $590,000. At the half time break, the auctioneer hints that $600,000 will put it on the market, and the rises slowed to $5,000, $2,000 and $1,000 until a 4th bidder takes the price to $600,000 and on the market. A 5th bidder joins in with $5,000 rises against the 4th bidder until $625,000, when the hammer was finally brought down to the 5th bidder.
2/26 Loch Street, St Kilda West. Sold for $760,000 This large, two bedroom apartment with under cover car parking was sold on Saturday in a fiercely contested auction. The property is currently tenanted which appealed to the almost all investor crowd. Located amongst multi million dollar homes, the updated property is currently tenanted which appealed to the almost all investor crowd. The property was announced on the market at $680,000, but the bidding did not stop there. Two parties went head to head until the property eventually sold for $760,000.
179 Hawke Street, West Melbourne. Sold for $885,000 This part-renovated two bedroom Victorian cottage on the edge of the city will soon become a park-front terrace, as the auctioneer announced that the City of Melbourne council had just bought the run-down factory across the road to create a new recreation area and playground. A crowd of about 50 people including a mix of young families and investors attended the auction. Bidding began at $770,000 and the price steadily grew in $10,000 increments until $860,000, when things slowed down. The auctioneer managed to entice the bidders to continue until the property was sold to the opening bidding couple for $885,000.
