By Jim Malo
Home buyers looking to build their dream house beat three other hopefuls, both developers and renovators, to nab an ageing but well-presented Glen Iris property for $3.34 million at auction on Saturday.
The three-bedroom house at 22 Yeovil Road was situated on a large 1226-square-metre block, which proved attractive to the four bidders who participated. It came with a pool, spacious garden and gym/studio behind the carport.
Jellis Craig listing agent Simon Lord said the land size offered a range of options for buyers.
“The large allotments almost seem like they’re going extinct at the moment,” he said. “We had a mixture of homebuyers and developers chasing this one. That’s why the result was very strong.
“It was not a big home but well presented. It had a pool and a large garden.”
Lord listed the property with a price range of $2.65 million to $2.85 million. The sale price was $490,000 more than the top of the range. He would not disclose the reserve.
The auction began with a bid of $2.6 million.
“There was good and spirited bidding,” Lord said. “The buyer who bought it was very happy because they missed a few others of late, so they were excited to get past the line.
“It was slow to start, like most auctions. Once the bidding got going, there was a good little rhythm and three of them just wouldn’t let go.”
Lord said the buyers were planning to build their dream home.
“It’s a nice area, a nice little pocket of Glen Iris,” he said. “You’re sitting amongst some very nice homes, and it’s a pocket where homes don’t come up much.”
It was one of 700 auctions scheduled for Saturday in Melbourne. Domain Group had recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 72.2 per cent by Saturday evening, from 464 reported results.
There were 43 auctions withdrawn, which are counted as unsold properties.
In Fitzroy, a long-term investment sold to first home buyers in another competitive auction.
The townhouse at 34 Little Smith Street had been held as a rental by its developer for 16 years, Nelson Alexander listing agent and auctioneer Rick Daniel said.
“It’s still held up really well,” he said. “There is the potential for someone later to put their own stamp on it, but everything was really solid and still working, even though it’s a 16-year-old build.”
Daniel listed the home with a price range of $1.1 million to $1.2 million. The reserve was $1.2 million and three buyers contested the auction, he said.
“Two of them were young professionals and one was an investor,” said Daniel. “It was bought by a young professional in the medical industry who wanted to be close to the hospitals.”
The auction began at the bottom of the quoted range and quickly progressed, he said. It sold for $1,335,000, which was $135,000 more than the vendor’s reserve price.
In its time as a rental, it had been leased through Daniel’s office and received rents between $700 to $800 per week, which had proved attractive to the bidding investor.
“It was the location, being near to Smith St and Gertrude was the attraction,” Daniel said. “But it had a garage, and was low maintenance. It’s the ideal first home in Fitzroy.”
In Richmond, an older home in need of some updating sold for $2,736,000 in another blow-out result. It sold for $686,000 more than its reserve price.
The three-bedroom house at 90 Lyndhurst Street attracted four bidders, one of whom saw the property for the first time on Saturday.
Biggin and Scott director and auctioneer Andrew Crotty had listed the property for sale with a quoted price range of $2 million to $2.2 million.
He said buyers had been interested in the property for its Richmond Hill location and the blank slate it offered.
“The home had done its job for the previous family,” Crotty said. “It was in original condition throughout and most of the buyers were going to pull it down and start again or fully renovate.”
Bidding opened at $1.9 million and stalled at $2.05 million. Crotty said he then took a break and the vendor decided to place the home on the market.
Bidding resumed with three bidders contesting the auction until $2.53 million, at which point the last bidder and eventual buyer joined the fray.
Using a tactic of only placing $1000 bids, the latecomer beat out their competition and bought the home for $2,736,000. Crotty said it sold to a local buyer, but did not know what they planned to do with the property.
LJ Hooker head of research Matthew Tiller said Melbourne’s 72.2 per cent preliminary clearance rate was a very positive result, given an increase in the number of auctions scheduled from last week.
“Our anticipation is that stock will slowly rise over the next month or so and in the lead-up to a pretty strong spring listing season,” he said, adding the number of appraisals had been increasing.
“There’s enough buyers and enough inquiry in the market at the moment to see listings rise, without it affecting prices.”
He said the market will be watching the Reserve Bank’s interest rates decision on Tuesday.
With Elizabeth Redman