Property market strong as winter sun warms keen house hunters

The persistent demand in autumn has flowed into a new season.

In Abbotsford, some welcome rays allowed the crowd to step outside near the Yarra bank among the bellbirds and look back at the tree-top balcony of a three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment at 6/659 Victoria Street. Vendors expected a little over $1.1 million, but three bidders took it to $1,275,000 for Biggin & Scott’s Edward Hobbs.

Tap here for Saturday’s auction results.

Tap here for the Market Snapshot.

In South Yarra, buyers stood in Fawkner Park to watch the sun soak the first-floor balcony of 20/21 Park Lane. “This was the first Mirvac development in Melbourne,” said Kay & Burton’s Andrew Smith. “They always chose the best positions.” Five bidders took the two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment, from a reserve circa $800,000 to $910,000.

At 1010 Malvern Rd, Armadale, a buyer’s advocate in the crowd by the pool watched three bidders take a renovated two-storey, four-bedroom Victorian onto the market at $4.4 million for Marshall White’s John Bongiorno and on to $4.77 million by hammer time.

In Brighton, the brother of a young Australian in Britain exceeded an agreed price limit to buy a house for her to come home to. He dispatched six bidders to win the keys from Buxton’s David Hart to a charming block-fronted four-bedroom Victorian at 2 Munro Street for $1,677,000. The reserve was $1.5 million.

Inner-city buyer’s advocate Michael Ramsay said Saturday’s market was “the strongest I have ever seen, with three, four or five bidders at every auction.”

He bid for a conventional clinker brick two-bedroom house in Thornbury at 15 Hill Street. It went on the market at $900,000, and three other bidders took it to $990,000 for Jellis Craig.