Historic inner Melbourne home passes in, then sells for $3.315 million

An historic Georgian style house in Richmond, one of the first to be built in the suburb, passed in at auction on Saturday after two bids. It sold shortly after for $3,315,000.

The three-bedroom home at 14 James Street, which dates to circa 1864 and had undergone a full renovation, sold for the vendor’s reserve price, which was within the $3.2 million to $3.5 million advertised price guide.

The property was one of 627 scheduled to go to auction in Melbourne last week. By Saturday evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 63 per cent from 465 reported results throughout the week, while 62 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

The last time the preliminary clearance rate was higher than this was on February 28 when it hit 66 per cent.

While the early clearance rate is likely to be revised downwards, it is still likely to be around the level that indicates a balanced market between buyers and sellers, where prices are neither rising nor falling.

Agents say a lack of properties for sale is the reason Melbourne’s clearance rate has been evening out in early August.

With little for sale, buyers are still wary of overpaying, but are becoming more serious about making a deal.

In Richmond, two bidders competed, though each only placed a single bid. The first made a $3.2 million bid, while the second, who ended up buying the property, made a $3.22 million offer.

The property passed in on that bid, before a short negotiation led to the property selling.

Jellis Craig Richmond director and auctioneer Elliot Gill said the buyers lived nearby.

The last time the property sold in 2017, it had been in original condition, but the vendors, who are now planning to downsize closer to their children, had undertaken a full renovation.

“It has great period detail, which is what people love about it,” Gill said.

He said, given the lack of properties for sale, keen buyers were still making offers.

“I think the auction clearance rate is improving because there’s not as many auctions being called – there’s a real lack of stock,” he added. “There’s lots of off-market activity,” he said.

“The market is performing pretty well considering there’s not a deep pool of buyers and a shallow pool of properties for sale.”

Also in the inner city, in Carlton North, a renovated three-bedroom Victorian house sold under the hammer for $2.38 million, above the $2.01 million reserve and the $1.9 million to $2 million guide.

There is no legal requirement for a vendor’s reserve to be in line with their property’s price guide.

Four bidders competed for the keys to 542 Canning Street, with bidding opening at $1.9 million.

Plenty of fast offers followed, and the buyers, a professional couple who had been renting locally, won the keys with a final bid of $4000.

Two of the three under-bidders were also owner-occupiers hoping to move into Carlton North, while the other was attempting to buy from Sydney.

Nelson Alexander Carlton’s James Pilliner said the vendors, who had owned the property since 2012, had in 2014 undertaken a full renovation, which was still in excellent condition.

“This one was renovated really well, the vendor used a quality builder and expensive materials and that stood the test of time,” he said.

Pilliner said the market was balancing given both vendors and buyers were becoming used to current conditions.

“It feels like the owners going to market know they’ll have to put a reasonable reserve in and that, combined with buyers seeing a softening in prices, means properties are selling,” he said.

In Cheltenham, a neat three-bedroom house at 48 Nancy Street sold under the hammer for $1,085,000, above the $1 million reserve, to a young family wanting to buy into the area.

It also sold above the $950,000 to $1,045,000 guide.

Lewin Real Estate Kingston/Bayside’s Brian Lewin said five buyers were expected, all families, but only three were active. Two had been quickly priced out after competition took off.

Bidding opened on a vendor bid of $900,000, and offers in increments of $20,000 followed until the price reached $1.05 million. Smaller bids of $5000 and $2000 were then placed.

A final “aggressive” bid of $5000 was enough to buy the home, Lewin said.

Buyers were returning with confidence to the Cheltenham market, though it was not what it had been six months ago, Lewin said.

“The smart money is coming back into the market,” he said. “They know if they want to get on with the next chapter of their life, buyers need to buy.”