‘It’s a small part of the world’: Williamstown home sells for $1.17m

A freestanding house at the rear of a larger period home in Williamstown sold under the hammer for $1.17 million, in a competitive auction with six active bidders.

The house at 67A Cecil Street was listed with a price guide of $950,000 to $995,000 and a reserve of $1.05 million.

“The owners subdivided the land about 30 years ago and built this,” said selling agent Joanne Royston, from Ray White Williamstown.

“It has its own lane access, and although it is on the smaller size, it doesn’t have body corporate or any of those things. That made it appealing.”

Royston said there were 12 registered bidders, with six ultimately taking part in the auction.

“There was a bit of variety of bidders; young couples, downsizers, with a downsizer from the next street securing the property,” she said.

The auction opened strongly at $1.02 million and increased in $10,000 increments.

“The strong start, I think, really scared off some of the other bidders,” Royston said.

“The sellers, whose family once lived in the property and have since used it as an investment, live only a few houses down from the buyer. It’s a small part of the world,” she said.

She described the local market as “very mixed”.

“There is no real rhyme or reason to what is doing well… As agents, we need to adapt literally weekly at the moment,” she said.

The property was one of 1347 scheduled to go to auction in Melbourne this week. By Saturday evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 59 per cent from 1028 reported results throughout the week, while 160 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

In Cheltenham, two first-home buyers battled for the keys to a renovated three-bedroom townhouse, paying $1,077,000 at auction on Saturday.

The townhouse at 9/15 Sunray Avenue was listed with a price guide of $980,000 to $1.07 million, and a reserve of $1.07 million.

Bidding opened at $980,000 and the second bid took it to $1 million, before rising in increments of $10,000, said selling agent Angela Limanis, from Ray White The Bayside Group.

The auction took place in front of a crowd of around 40 people in the townhouse’s front yard, with a coffee van on-site.

“The two registered bidders were both young couples,” she said.

The successful pair, who were bidding in their first auction, had doubts going in.

“They said to me that they didn’t think they would have a chance of securing the home, but I said to them, ‘never say never’,” Limanis said.

“They didn’t see it coming.”

Being “turnkey”, having a secure front yard, and the central Cheltenham location were all drawcards, Limanis said.

The sellers have bought another property, a farm in Queensland.

“They have gone from a townhouse to lots of acres,” Limanis said.

Meanwhile, in Richmond, a two-bedroom Victorian home with both residential and commercial zoning sold at auction for $1.38 million, $100,000 over its $1.28 million reserve.

The modern townhouse at 147 Cremorne Street featured an updated floor plan and had a price guide of $1.2 million to $1.3 million.

“It went better than we expected,” said selling agent Edward Hobbs from Biggin Scott, Richmond.

Two bidders took part in the auction: a young couple looking to move straight in, and the ultimate buyer, who Hobbs said was interested in both its residential and commercial capabilities.

“The young couple went to $1.35 million, and then the successful bidder did a knockout bid of $1.38 million,” he said.

“That was enough to secure it.”

The sellers, who once lived in the home, have relocated to Tasmania and have been using it as an investment property.

“They were thrilled with the result,” said Hobbs.

“It’s a bit of a mixed bag out there at the moment.”

LJ Hooker’s head of research, Mathew Tiller, said the recent rate increase and the war in the Middle East were starting to affect the market.

“Buyers are a bit wary of how these [factors] might affect their household budgets and are starting to be a bit cautious,” he said.

“The high volume of stock is also impacting the auction clearance rate,” he added.

Tiller believes that after Easter we may see a different market to what we have in the first three months of the year.

“It will depend on whether the war is still going on, but if it is, this may increase caution amongst buyers.”