Only one bid for Carlton North home that sold later for $1.75m
A Carlton North house that fetched only one bid at auction on Saturday sold afterwards to a young couple for $1.75 million.
The three-bedroom house at 114 Princes Street was guided at $1.6 million to $1.75 million and had a reserve at the top of the range.
The auction attracted a “really good crowd of around thirty people,” said selling agent Rhiannon East from Bizarre Real Estate.
Only one active bidder participated in the auction, offering $1.61 million.
“The property was then passed in and sold shortly after to the same bidder,” said East.
“It was a younger couple who wanted to live closer to the city.”
The period home has been renovated and features concrete, glass, and exposed brickwork, which blend with the home’s traditional features, including an open fireplace.
The larger block size for the area of 322 square metres and off-street parking were major drawcards, East said.
East said it had been an “unusual time” in the market.
“It has been really slow over the past 18 months, but over the past few weeks, it is starting to pick up,” she said.
The property was one of 733 scheduled auctions in Melbourne last week. By evening, Domain Group had recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 71.1 per cent from 519 reported results, while 51 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
Elsewhere, a “dated” family home in Mill Park sold at auction for $1.03 million to an owner-occupier who wanted to live near family.
The four-bedroom house at 26 Blossom Park Drive was listed with a price range of $790,000 to $869,000 and had no set reserve.
“The seller and I had agreed that once it hit around $850,000, we’d put it on the market,” said selling agent Tim Yu from Fletchers Bundoora.
The property, which was last sold in 2012 for $480,000, was described by Yu as dated. “It is 40-45 years old and needs work,” he said.
The auction featured two registered bidders: an investor and a home buyer. The home buyer had already sold her house and was looking to buy a property near her father. She ultimately secured the home at auction.
Yu said the auction was competitive and quick, lasting under five minutes.
“The buyer said to me before the auction, Tim, I’ve got money, I want the house.”
The bidding started with a vendor bid of $800,000, then a second bid of $900,000, which put the property above the quoted price range.
“By the time I’d gone inside to confirm putting it on the market with the owner and come back, the price had already reached a million,” said Yu.
“The result was much higher than expected.”
Yu said that the market in Mill Park had been doing “very well.”
Meanwhile, in Craigieburn, a cottage with a white picket fence sold under the hammer for $600,000.
The three-bedroom home at 4 Avenel Gardens was guided at $470,000 to $490,000.
Selling agent and auctioneer, Trish Orrico, declined to disclose the reserve but said, “You can write that it sold close to $100,000 over the reserve.”
The character and charm of the property attracted five registered bidders — three investors and two homebuyers —who were active on the day.
“It was a hybrid auction, I had one interstate investor on a Zoom call and others in attendance at the property,” said Orrico.
Bidding opened at $480,000 and increased in increments of $10,000, and then lowered to $1,000 until only two bidders remained.
“The successful bidder, a US expat who was buying his first home in Australia, went all in with a $5,000 bid and ultimately won,” said Orrico.
Orrico said he had been looking for homes for over a month and was “ecstatic with the result.”
The vendors, two brothers, are selling off their investment properties as they “wind down to retirement.”
“They’ve been holding onto these properties for 20-25 years,” said Orrico.
The Craigieburn market is experiencing a lot of interstate investor interest.
“There are lots of Sydney investors, in particular, who are looking in Melbourne because of the price tag; it’s much cheaper,” said Orrico.
She has also noticed an uptick in auction participation.
“There is definitely a lot more bidding activity,” she said.
Diaswati Mardiasmo, chief economist at PRD, said the Melbourne market seems to be “slower” than in previous weeks.
“I would say that people might be waiting for another cash rate cut and holding out,” she said.
“It should keep prices stable in Melbourne and create opportunities for first home buyers.”
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