Melbourne’s property market passed it’s first big test of the year this weekend, with around 1485 homes going under the hammer throughout the week.
There were 1217 auctions held across Melbourne this weekend, with 722 selling, resulting in a clearance rate of 70%. 360 properties were passed in, 169 of those on a vendor bid. There were also 326 private sales.
The market appears to be very balanced at the moment, however there was a sense of buyers ‘sitting on their hands’ at some auctions over the weekend.  This could be a result of buyers not understanding the value of properties at the moment due to agents pricing becoming more in line with vendors reserve prices.  Agents are being closely watched by Consumer Affairs at present due to the change in Estate Agents Act 1980 on 1st of May 2017.  Once this practice becomes more familiar buyers should gain more confidence again and this should occur in the not so distant future.

Kind Regards,
The Team at Elite.

1/61 Martin Street, Brighton. Sold for $1,220,000
This three bedroom unrenovated villa unit with street frontage in a very convenient and popular location of Martin Street welcomed about 60 people to the auction. Two vendor bids were put in to start the auction and the auctioneer worked extremely hard to get some participation. Finally he received a genuine bid of $970,000 where another gentleman jumped in at $980,000. The two bidders went head to head until one dropped out when it almost got knocked down to the highest bidder after being announced on the market at $1.05m. Another bidder who then jumped in, ended up winning the keys at $1.22m. $170,000 over reserve.

1/18 Allambee Avenue, Camberwell. Sold for $1,575,000 
A very popular auction with over 150 people in attendance.  The majority of the crowd was downsizers and Chinese buyers.   The bidding started at $1.3m where two bidders fought head to head to secure the popular piece of real estate.  The property was announced on the market at $1.25m and sold for $1.575m.  A solid $150,000 above reserve.  The determined downsizer won the auction and only two bidders were involved as no one really got a chance to put their hand up.

38 French Street, Thomastown. Sold for $885,000
This triple-fronted four bedroom home in a highly sought after location attracted strong buyer interest leading up to the auction. Quoted at $650,000-$710,000 prior to auction, the house on a 650 sqm block is completely ready for a family to move into. On Saturday, the agent informed us that there were 10 to 12 parties intending on bidding to secure the home but only three got the chance as bidding was quick and fast. The price sold for $885,000 well above the reserve price.