Windsor family happy to sell $2.42m home to a couple, not a developer

A Windsor family sold their home of almost five decades at auction on Saturday for $2.42 million, making an emotional handover to a local owner-occupier couple.

The sellers were happy to see the four-bedroom Edwardian house at 21 Gertrude Street, which had no heritage overlay and offered redevelopment potential, go to someone else who would live there.

SOLD - $2,420,000

21 Gertrude Street, Windsor VIC 3181

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The property was one of 597 scheduled to go to auction in Melbourne this week, a quiet quasi-long weekend due to the upcoming Melbourne Cup holiday on Tuesday.

By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 67.7 per cent from 412 reported results throughout the week, while 51 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

The Windsor home was listed with a price guide of $2 million to $2.2 million. It featured period details such as iron lace and leadlight windows, and had been refreshed with new paint and carpets, but offered potential to renovate or redevelop.

The home was set on a block of around 500 square metres. Windsor’s median house price is $1,369,500, on Domain data.

Bidding began at $2 million in front of a crowd of about 30 people.

Two parties traded $50,000 increments until $2.2 million, then a third jumped in, shortening the stride to $25,000 offers.

Once the price hit $2.4 million, another two offers of $10,000 were enough to silence the floor and the home sold to a couple for $2.42 million.

The reserve was $2.1 million. Records show the home last traded in 1977 for $52,500.

The vendors’ youngest son, who declined to give his name, said he felt “emotional because I grew up in this house”.

His parents ran a Chinese restaurant on Chapel Street, but had since downsized and decided to sell.

“I was really happy that it got sold to a family and not knocked down by a developer,” he said.

“Me and my sister are really happy that it’s gone to someone who will patch it up and keep it as is because it’s a really special place.”

Buxton Stonnington selling agent Harley Toyle said most buyer interest throughout the campaign had been from owner-occupiers who wanted to keep the Edwardian home and renovate, and even the interested developers were looking to extend and renovate the house.

He said the market was steady, and this result was a standout, although he thought the inner-city Windsor neighbourhood had a big pull factor.

“Rates are what they are, and most buyers are factoring it in,” he said.

“Whether we get a rate cut or not I think it won’t have a material impact, there’s still good buyer activity out there.”

In Reservoir, a young first home buyer couple paid $735,000 for a townhouse on a 190-square-metre block.

Auction: $650,000 - $715,000

1/82 Leamington Street, Reservoir VIC 3073

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The two-bedroom home at 1/82 Leamington Street, guided at $650,000 to $715,000, attracted two bidders and sold in post-auction negotiations.

Bidding began at $660,000 and rose into the $700,000 range, Ray White Reservoir selling agent Alastair Surtees said, but the home was then passed in.

He said the reserve was hovering in the $700,000s, at the top end of the range.

A price of $735,000 was negotiated after auction. The sellers are upsizing.

Surtees said the Reservoir market was quite good, with a lot of young people moving into the area and the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme now open to an unlimited number of first home buyers.

“When the interest rates are lower, people have a bit more money to spend,” he said.

“That sub-$1 million market is doing really well.”

A first home buyer paid $680,000 for a Moorabbin unit in post-auction negotiations on Saturday, taking the keys from its investor vendors for less than it last sold for, in January last year.

The renovated two-bedroom unit at 2/97 Rowans Road had been listed with a price guide of $650,000 to $690,000.

$650,000 to $690,000

2/97 Rowans Road, Moorabbin VIC 3189

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The Moorabbin unit market is Melbourne’s fastest-rising property market. The median unit price in Moorabbin is $752,500, according to Domain data, up 26.5 per cent in the 12 months to September, the strongest rise of any suburb for either units or houses.

But the area’s growth was not quite enough for the well-presented home to reach its last sale price. Public records show the residence last traded for $710,000 in 2024.

Three interested first home buyers had attended the Moorabbin auction, but not everyone had participated, Lewin Real Estate selling agent Brian Lewin said.

Proceedings began with a vendor bid at $650,000, the bottom of the quoted price range, before a live bid was placed at $670,000. Then the auction paused.

The home was passed in at that level and sold to the bidder in post-auction negotiations for $680,000, the reserve price.

Lewin understood the buyer was using the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme, which expanded in October to allow purchases by an unlimited number of buyers. He said there had been good interest in the scheme in general.

“The market is really good, the market is really strong. It is probably up 10 per cent in the last 12 weeks,” he said.

Elsewhere, another first home buyer using the scheme won the keys to a Mernda house, paying $738,500.

SOLD - Price Withheld

12 Plugges Street, Mernda VIC 3754

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Proceedings for the four-bedroom home at 12 Plugges Street began with the auctioneer making a bid of $680,000, then three parties competed, Nelson Alexander Reservoir selling agent Monica Chen said.

She said the auction was slow, often rising in $1000 and $500 bids. It reached the reserve price of $730,000 and crept up to $738,500, where it sold. The price guide on the property was $680,000-$730,000.

“I think it is a fair and reasonable result,” Chen said, adding that her recent sales a little closer to the city in Bundoora, Lalor and Thomastown had been more popular.

“A lot of people still want a full block of land, more close to the city.”

Mernda’s median house price is $720,000, up 3.8 per cent in the year to September. The address last traded for $225,000 in 2017 when records show it was vacant land.