By Jim Malo
A Brighton family paid $1,505,500 for a Cheltenham house at auction on Saturday morning, after they gave in to temptation and made just one more bid.
The three-bedroom house at 58 Olympic Avenue attracted five bidders, and Buxton auctioneer and listing agent Aidan Oke said buyers had been interested in the home’s location in the popular Pennydale neighbourhood.
“The Pennydale pocket is really, really popular, this side of Cheltenham,” he said. “We’ve had over 100 groups inspect throughout the campaign, which is pretty rare for the market at the moment.
“The original home’s about 60 years old, weatherboard and very charming. It’s had a couple of renovations over its life and been extended slightly.”
Oke listed the house for sale with a quoted price range of $1.35 million to $1.45 million. The reserve was the top of the range, and the auction opened on a vendor bid at the bottom.
Buyers traded $10,000 raises until the price reached $1.44 million, and increments slowed from there.
Aidan Oke auctions 58 Olympic Avenue. Credit: Wayne Taylor
The winning bidders were the last to join the auction, and had to be coaxed into placing the last $500 bid to win the home.
“The auction went really well and was incredibly competitive,” Oke said.
He said market weakness meant it was typically rare to have five bidders active at auction.
“We’re typically comfortable these days with two or three people bidding,” Oke said.
Oke said it was rare for five bidders to take part in an auction at the moment. Credit: Wayne Taylor
It was one of 985 auctions scheduled for Saturday in Melbourne. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 61.4 per cent from 697 reported results, while 91 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
In Northcote, first home buyers paid $1.27 million for a Victorian house with original features.
The home at 27 Park Street attracted four bidders at auction, all of which were first home buyers, auctioneer and listing agent Nigel Harry said.
He listed the home for sale with a quoted price range of $1.1 million to $1,175,000. The reserve was the top of the range.
“It’s just a quintessential inner-north living. It had a nice vibe,” Harry said. “It was freestanding, the vendors loved that it was built circa 1880 and had a lot of the Victorian character.”
The auction began at the bottom of the range, Harry said.
“It started quite slowly, and there were two bidders bidding in $2500s and $5000s until it was the top of the range. Then the initial two bidders dropped out and then the other two took over,” he said.
It was the winning buyers’ first auction, Harry said. “It was a young couple renting in Fitzroy North. They’d looked at 70 homes and this was the first one that spoke to them and the first they had a crack at.”
In South Melbourne, investors won the keys to a terrace at auction, and beat two other bidders to pay $1,372,500 for the house.
The two-bedroom home at 96 Cobden Street featured exposed-wood accents and a European style.
Cayzer auctioneer and listing agent Simon Carruthers said the style and the upstairs study had appealed to the three bidders. He listed the property with a quoted price range of $1.25 million to $1.35 million.
“There’s a lot of character here. A lot of people were saying it felt English,” he said. “I had someone say it felt like it was from Amsterdam. So there was a European old-style feel about the home.”
First home buyers made the first genuine bid at the bottom of the range after a slow start to the auction. Bidding stalled at $1,337,500, and after conferring with the vendors, Carruthers announced the home was on the market.
A drawn-out fight for the home then took place. The underbidders and investors, bidding through The Agency’s Michael Paproth, placed dozens of $500 bids. The investors paid $35,000 more than the vendors were willing to take.
“It was long, very slow in between bids, it’s people thinking about getting into the area and they take their time,” Carruthers said. “It’s a good home, so they don’t want to lose it and both parties probably went above their limits. But that’s what good real estate does.”
In Kensington, another investor pipped owner-occupiers to the post to buy a weatherboard terrace for $1.21 million.
The three-bedroom house at 29 Smith Street also featured an upstairs study and had a north-facing backyard. Nelson Alexander auctioneer Ryan Currie listed the home with a quoted price range of $1,075,000 to $1,175,000.
A buyer’s advocate, bidding on behalf of the investor, opened the bidding at $1.1 million. Currie said the reserve was $1.17 million.
The investor, who Currie said was from Queensland, paid $40,000 more than the reserve price. “That’s a little bit left of field to be honest.”
Currie said the owner-occupier underbidders had missed out on four auctions with him so far.
“They laughed and said: ‘You’re our bloody nemesis’,” he said, laughing.
Currie said the investor had been interested in buying the home because it had three bedrooms, which allowed them to charge higher rent than other terraces in the area.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.