Young couple pays $1.83m for architecturally designed Collingwood home

A young couple bought an architecturally designed, Japanese-inspired townhouse in Collingwood under the hammer for $1,830,500 in a competitive auction between four bidders on Saturday.

The three-bedroom home at 9/20 Bedford Street had a price guide of $1.55 million to $1.69 million and a reserve of $1,675,000.

The property was one of 1221 scheduled to go to auction in Melbourne last week.

By Saturday evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 58 per cent from 812 reported results throughout the week, while 133 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

Selling agent Matthew Akritidis from Nelson Alexander Fitzroy said four young professionals contested the Collingwood auction, including a couple who were the ultimate buyers.

“They really valued the design of the home. It was designed by an architect who lived in the property, with unique features like six-metre-high ceilings,” he said.

The location, “on the border of Fitzroy,” is also popular among that demographic, he added.

Bidding opened at $1.5 million and quickly rose to $1.75 million, with only two bidders remaining after it reached $1.79 million.

“The bidders knew that if they didn’t contest the auction, they’d miss out. This property was just one of a kind,” Akritidis said.

Interest in the property’s design also drew a crowd of around 100 people.

“It just looked really good online,” he said.

Elsewhere, a renovated brick family home in Mulgrave passed in at auction for $980,000 and sold later that day, after private negotiations, for $1.06 million to a neighbour who was riding past the auction on his bike.

The three-bedder at 40 Carson Street had a price guide of $1 million to $1.1 million.

Selling agent Leigh Kelepouris from Ray White Oakleigh said the vendors didn’t have a specific reserve but wanted “something just a little bit over one million.”

The auction had three registered bidders who were active, but the bidding was “slow and lacking.”

“It was ultimately passed in on a live bid of $980,000, but the vendor said it was too low, so we began negotiating with all three bidders, plus another person in the crowd,” as well as the ultimate buyer, who arrived on his bike, said Kelepouris.

The new buyer has purchased the home as an investment property for his family members to live in.

The vendors, who know the new owner, first thought there was a mistake when he decided to make an offer.

“They said, ‘No, he’s our friend from around the corner,’ but he actually wanted to make a genuine bid,” said Kelepouris.

The other interested parties included two first-home buyers and two investors.

Kelepouris said that there has been hesitancy to bid in auctions since the federal budget was announced.

“Buyers are lacking confidence to bid, but once they see competition, like in the negotiations with this property after the auction, their confidence rises, and they are more involved.”

Kelepouris said that the vendor was “happy to sell it to someone he knew.”

In Abbotsford, a tri-level townhouse was passed in at auction on a vendor bid of $500,000.

The one-bedroom home at 6/80 Trenerry Crescent was listed with a price guide of $500,000 to $550,000 and a reserve of $540,000.

There were two interested parties in attendance at the auction, but neither was registered to bid, said listing agent Domenic Zanellini from Dingle Partners.

“One was an Australian resident who is overseas who wanted to go subject to finance, which is why she couldn’t put in an offer,” he said.

The second interested party is an investor from Victoria.

“Over the past few weeks, properties that have been passed in at auction have sold in the three or four days following, so I’m hoping this will be a repeat performance,” Zanellini said.

Only a small crowd of seven people attended the auction, including the investor and the accountant of the second interested party.

“The rest were just local residents,” said Zanellini.

Smaller crowds are one of the noticeable changes he has observed since the federal budget was delivered, he said.

“There have just been fewer and fewer people coming to the auctions,” he said.

While first-time homebuyers are still out in force, the investor market has reduced.

“Before the budget, we had copious interest from Queensland and New South Wales investors, but after, it has just dried up,” said Zanellini.

PRD Real Estate chief economist Dr Diaswati Mardiasmo said the Melbourne market seems to be holding steady.

“I think people might be waiting to see what happens with the cash rate in the upcoming weeks,” she said.

“I think it will hold, but with inflation dropping, there are some people who are optimistic that there will be a cut, although I think that would be a miracle.”