First home buyer beats three others for $1.72m renovated Richmond house

A first home buyer paid $1.72 million for a renovated Victorian house in Richmond at auction on Saturday, beating three other bidders and pushing the price over reserve.

The three-bedroom, freestanding home at 23 Crown Street has a gourmet kitchen in a neutral palette and a landscaped courtyard.

The property was one of 574 scheduled to go to auction in Melbourne last week. By Saturday evening, Domain recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 56 per cent from 380 reported results throughout the week, while 73 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

The volume of auctions was lower than the previous week due to the quasi-long weekend ahead of the Melbourne Cup holiday on Tuesday, when the Reserve Bank will decide whether to increase the cash rate for the fifth time this year.

The Richmond home attracted four bidders at auction and a crowd of about 50 and opened with a bid of $1.51 million.

It pushed higher in increments of mostly $10,000, with a few smaller bids of $5000 and $1000.

After it surpassed the reserve price of $1.58 million, strong bidding continued to $1.72 million at which point the property sold.

“It just so happened that it got down to two bidders that really wanted the home,” BigginScott Richmond selling agent Julie Taylor said.

The winner is a first home buyer with a little emotional support from her dad.

“She was just over the moon, really excited,” Taylor said. “She will be very happy there for a long time.”

Among the bidders who missed out, one was a downsizer and two were upsizers. The vendors had owned it for more than two decades and were ready to move on.

Taylor said there was a lack of quality homes for sale in the area.

“There was nothing on the market in Richmond, at the same time to really compete against it,” she said.

“If your vendors are willing to meet the market, there is no reason why they would not sell. If they are not wanting to meet the market, that is a different story.”

Elsewhere, a California bungalow in Brunswick West is still available after passing in on a vendor bid of $1.75 million.

The six-bedroom property at 23 Guthrie Street, including a main home and second residence with an unusual timber pattern in the kitchen, was offered with an advertised reserve of $1.8 million.

“I believe it offers great value for anyone who wants to buy into the area of Brunswick West,” Victorian Real Estate selling agent Colin Rounds said, adding that the road had been resurfaced and nearby homes included a mix of California bungalows and new builds.

But the home was issued with a building notice during its sales campaign relating to the use of the granny flat as a residence, which would take a little work on the part of the buyer to resolve, Rounds said.

“Everything is fixable, it just takes time and a little bit of money,” he said.

Rounds has noticed mixed sale results in the area recently, ahead of the Reserve Bank meeting on Tuesday when another rate hike is expected.

“I don’t know if people are waiting [for] Tuesday for the interest rates,” he said.

In Mount Waverley, an elegant family home sold for $2,561,000 under the hammer.

The five-bedroom house at 6 Glenmore Grove had three bidders and a reserve price of $2.46 million.

Bidding started slowly at $2.3 million, and after the home was on the market, two buyers continued to bid hard until the home sold to a family who intends to live there.

Jellis Craig selling agent Jared Wei said the home – built by the vendors, who are moving out of the area – was well-kept and the only one like it for sale at the moment.

“Family home buyers are aggressive in the area if the property is right for them,” he said.

LJ Hooker head of research Mathew Tiller said the quasi-long weekend made it hard to judge the state of the market, and there would likely be a clearer picture after the public holiday and the Reserve Bank interest rate decision. He said the upcoming state election may also be in the back of people’s minds.

He thought sellers are waiting for more information about the Reserve Bank’s long-term approach.

“Once they see it’s clear that rate hikes have finished and the RBA is then looking for a pause and looking for the next rate cut, that’s probably what sellers are looking for,” he said.

“They’re looking for the peak of the rate hiking cycle and a clear view as to when they will begin to come down before making those decisions because that’s when we may see buyers come back into the market as well.”