A triple-brick character home in Northcote, with a separate apartment attached, didn’t receive a single offer from a buyer at auction on Saturday, passing in on a vendor bid of $1.7 million.
The five-bedroom property at 173 Bastings Street had been advertised with a reserve of $1.8 million.
Collings Real Estate’s Chris Vrantsis said though there had been a lot of interest in the property, buyers had stepped back after the reserve was revealed, which is required by law under new Victorian auction rules.
“We had 30 to 35 people through the house and a few people came back quite a few times,” Vrantsis said. “But I think as soon as the reserve was shown they felt it was over the top.”
The property is now advertised for private sale with a $1,775,000 asking price.
The Northcote auction was one of 838 scheduled in Melbourne this week. By Saturday evening, Domain recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 56 per cent from 612 reported results across the week, while 102 auctions were withdrawn.
Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
Agents say market conditions in Melbourne, and the fear of another interest rate rise – with the Reserve Bank set to make its next decision on November 3 – were being talked about over the auction weekend.
Melbourne’s median house price is expected to fall below $1 million, after dropping 3.3 per cent in the September quarter, on Domain data. It only needs to fall another 1.5 per cent for prices to be in the high $900,000s.
Meanwhile, banks including ANZ and Westpac are predicting another rate hike next month.
Despite the challenges the current market was throwing up, Vrantsis was confident the property would sell.
“We’ll just keep working through until we find the right buyer,” he said.
In Fitzroy, a fully renovated art deco home, at 74 Alexandra Parade, sold under the hammer for $1,531,000 above the $1.35 million reserve.
Three bidders fought it out for the keys to the five-bedroom home – all were young first-home buyers.
Nelson Alexander Fitzroy’s Mark Verrocchi said the auction went on for some time, as smaller bids of $5000 and then $1000 were being made throughout as a tactic to slow down proceedings.
The young buyer, represented by a buyer’s advocate, will now make the property his family home.
Verrocchi said the property appealed to a lot of buyers as it had been newly renovated from top to bottom, and was on a larger parcel of land with a side driveway. However, it was in a tricky location being on such a busy road.
“That area really is like an island in Fitzroy,” he said. “If this house was on any other street it would have cost $2 million plus.”
Verrocchi said while interest rates and the current market were impacting the market, so was the upcoming Victorian State Election next month, with many prospective buyers and sellers waiting to see what the outcome of the would be before making any decisions.
In Essendon, five bidders were sure of their decision, making offers for a four-bedroom home at 36 Washington Street. The home sold under the hammer for $2,285,000, above the $1.95 million reserve.
Bidding opened at $1.9 million, with $25,000 offers until the price reached $2 million. It then slowed to $10,000 and $5000 offers before the winning bid was made.
The buyer is a young family from Pascoe Vale looking to move to Essendon.
Jellis Craig Moonee Valley’s Jason Johnson said buyers had responded strongly to the reserves being advertised on properties listed for auction, as did vendors’ realistic pricing.
“Price obviously had a lot to do with it,” Johnson said.
Another property at 15 Ferguson Street, Ascot Vale sold for $1.47 million, above the $1,385,000 reserve, after four bidders fought it out.
The property sold to a young family who were upsizing from Tullamarine. Both were great results in a tough market, he said.
“It was a bit out of the norm in terms of what’s happening in the market at the moment,” Johnson said.
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