This small suburb is only 5 square kilometres and it’s a hop, skip and a jump from Melbourne CBD making this the perfect location to live, to work and of course to socialise!

This small suburb is filled with many different cultures and it is interesting to know that only approximately 50% speak English at home. This once well-known suburb for its ever alarming crime rate is well on its way to a complete 360 with people flocking to the suburb wanting to scoop up available real estate at alarming rates!

If you are looking for somewhere to grab a bite to eat or coffee, perhaps one of the 130+ restaurants/cafes could satisfy your needs and whilst wondering through the streets of Footscray, don’t forget to look around and admire the amazing graffiti art.

Footscray is also home to many wonderful and well known icons, such as the Heavenly Queen of Footscray, the Western Bulldogs, Franco Cozzo and the Melbourne Market which has been home for many fruit, flower and fish traders for over 50 years until its recent relocation to Epping – but what will become of this valuable land site and the iconic signage?

Melbourne’s market is dividing further into a two-speed market, with house sales soaring higher than apartments. A clearance rate of 74 per cent was achieved from 934 auctions this weekend, with 692 properties selling and 242 being passed in, 107 of those on a vendor bid. There were an additional 361 private sales reported.

Houses in Melbourne are performing better than apartments in the current market. As Kim Easterbrook discusses in The Age on Sunday’s Domain, villa units are the one exception to this trend. Villa units broadly appeal to downsizers, investors and first-home buyers.

The eastern suburbs, particularly the outer east is not seeing as much activity as they used to, as results from other regions outperforming the east more regularly.

Sunshine North achieved its first million dollar house sale, beating the suburb’s previous record of $945,000. While in Brighton, a new record was achieved when four local bidders helped reach the sale of a Dendy Beach bathing box selling for $307,000.

There is an expected 843 auctions to be held next weekend.

5/33 Gnarwyn Road, Carnegie. Sold for $632,500

Conveniently located close to Koornang Rd shops, the train and tram, parklands, schools and Chadstone Shopping Centre, this renovated 2 bedroom villa attracted a crowd of 45 to the auction on Saturday. The opening bid of $500k was met by another party who offered $10k more, and the two took the price up to $600k when a 3rd bidder joined in. The property had a quoted price of $580k to $620k, and was on the market at $630k before selling at $632,500 at this straight-forward, non-referral auction.

169 Were Street, Brighton. Sold for $4,400,000

The auction for this grand family home with four bedrooms plus a home office and brilliant entertaining area was held indoors due to the rain on Saturday. The opening bid of $3 million was rejected by the auctioneer, and another party put their hand up with a real bid of $4.25 million for the 3 level home. The two bidders continued battling it out, until the property was announced on the market at $4.4 million, and it sold for the same price, with no further bids forthcoming.

9 Beckley Street, Coburg. Sold for $1,370,000

A crowd of 60 gathered in the light rain to watch the auction of this Californian bungalow, which held a price guide of $1.1 million to $1.2 million. The first offer for the 3 bedroom home filled with natural light was $1.1 million, and this was met by a rise of $10,000 from a young couple. The two parties battled it out in $10,000 increments until $1.31 million when a third would-be buyer joined in. The young couple won the rights to the keys with their final bid of $1.37 million.

“Hi, It’s David Easterbrook with the Elite Buyer Agents Market Wrap

This weekend there were 934 auctions of which 74% sold. Melbourne is currently experiencing a two-speed market, houses and villas are outperforming apartments and town houses.

The auction of 3A Cowra Street, Brighton demonstrated how popular villas are. The competitive auction attracted 8 bidders and sold for $1.425 million which is $425 thousand over  reserve.

Our tip for the week: the key to a great property is scarcity and location, shy away from properties of high supply such as off the plan apartments and town houses, apartments and town houses can be a good investment but look for location and x factors such as irreplaceable architecture and private outdoor areas.

I’m David Easterbrook, remember at Elite Buyer Agents – We’re on your side.”

St Kilda is a small suburb of around 3.2 square kilometres, even though it is small it is extremely well known and conveniently located just 6 kilometres south east of Melbourne CBD.

St Kilda is filled with cafes, restaurants, clothing boutiques, medical services and supermarkets.  Two well-known streets are Acland Street and Fitzroy Street, when in Acland Street, call past The Acland Cake Shop – you will not be disappointed.  St Kilda features many iconic locations and to name a few there is Lunar Park, St Kilda Sea Baths, St Kilda Botanical Gardens, St Kilda Marina and a popular restaurant overlooking the ocean, is called Riva St Kilda.

With the ease of public transport at your fingertips, St Kilda has everything that you need to owner occupy or invest!

“Hi its Kim Easterbrook with the Elite Buyer Agents market wrap, this weekend there was 692 Auctions of which 73% sold, we are seeing a rise in vendor’s price expectations were over 70% of properties that passed in were on genuine bids but did not sell immediately after.

We are currently seeing huge pressure on the prices of high quality free standing homes which seems to be the segment which is outperforming the rest of the market.

An auction we attended on the weekend in Moonee Ponds saw a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom period home with no car parking sell in excess of 1 million dollars.

Our tip for this week, make sure you understand the value of a property before entering into negotiations a lack of understanding can put you at risk of over paying by a large sum.

I’m Kim Easterbrook remember at Elite Buyer Agents – we’re on your side.”

It is no wonder a buyer can get swept into buying an off the plan property.  It sounds appealing.  Stamp duty savings… its brand new…small deposit now pay later.

But when you dig deeper down into what an off the plan property is you will understand there are many pitfalls.

Whether it be buying for investment or for owner occupied purposes, a buyer should truly understand the ins and outs of an off the plan property.  Some of the negatives are:

–         When the property is completed and the bank is ready to settle (after being purchased say one to two years ago), the bank will need to value the property before it will hand over the money.  Unfortunately bank valuations are quite commonly coming in less than what the buyer paid for the property. This can lead to issues, especially when the buyer is borrowing most of the property purchase.  We have seen time and time again of buyers not being able to settle on their property for this reason, and end up forfeiting their 10% deposit.

–         At times, builders/sales persons can over promise and under deliver.  Being a property off the plan, you don’t get to physically see the end result, and at times can lead to let down.

–         Paying a premium for being brand new at the start can lead to sluggish or even negative capital growth.  Buying an established property usually results in much higher capital growth rates.

–         No guarantees that the builder will meet deadlines, at times, projects can go on for much longer than previously anticipated.

So before leaping into an off the plan property, do your research, they sound good in theory, but the negatives (especially for an investor) far outweigh the positives.