Melbourne vendors make $1.7m selling ‘a really lovely renovation’

An owner-occupier paid $1,705,000 for a renovated Edwardian home with soaring cathedral ceilings in Hawthorn East at auction on Saturday.

The two-bedroom home at 75 Fletcher Street was one of a pair of semi-detached houses at the end of a cul-de-sac and was listed with a price guide of $1.4 million to $1.5 million.

Four parties registered and three bid for the Hawthorn East home, Jellis Craig Richmond selling agent Luke Schickerling said.

The opening bid was $1.3 million, but a vendor bid was placed at $1.4 million, the bottom of the guide, with a call for a $20,000 rise.

Three parties made about 40 bids all up, pushing the price above the reserve of $1.53 million, at which point the home was called on the market, and to $1,705,000, when it sold.

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

The home last traded for $555,000 in 2005 and had been later listed for rent, records show.

Schickerling described it as a “pretty free-flowing” auction and said the winner intends to live there.

“The open plan and exposed beam component at the rear of the property probably distinguished it from the other properties available this week,” he said. “It was a really lovely renovation.”

He also noted the location in a street with a few pairs of semis. “It was a great street,” he said. “It is just a really good house.”

Schickerling said he had three auctions on Saturday, with multiple bidders, and vendors happy.

“I couldn’t be critical of the market,” he said.

It was a different story elsewhere, as Melbourne’s clearance rate held below the 60 per cent threshold considered a balanced market.

The Hawthorn East home was one of 1160 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auction clearance rate of 58 per cent from 783 reported results throughout the week, while 128 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

A generous family home in Ivanhoe with a pool is still available after passing in without attracting competitive bidding at auction.

The four-bedroom home at 41 Marshall Street had been listed with a price guide of $3 million to $3.3 million.

Miles Real Estate Ivanhoe selling agent Mark Britt said two buyers attended but neither raised their hand.

“Both buyers were waiting for the other buyer to do something,” he said.

He said the vendors, empty nesters selling their home of four decades, had been earlier hoping for about $3.25 million. But by Saturday afternoon the home’s price guide was updated to $3,195,000.

Britt thought the home was likely to sell soon, given its location in the Fairy Hills pocket and close to Ivanhoe Grammar School.

He said more homes have been selling by negotiation recently, either prior to auction or afterwards.

“Just with what has happened overseas and all the media talk about interest rates, people are more nervous,” he said.

“Prices are still good, things are still selling. It is just harder.”

In Brunswick, a buyer’s advocate picked up a two-bedroom terrace for under a million dollars.

The single-fronted home at 157 Albion Street had been listed with a price guide of $900,000 to $990,000.

A buyer made a genuine bid on the auction floor of $910,000, but with no further offers, the home passed in, Nelson Alexander Brunswick selling agent Carl Sacco said, adding that there were a couple of other buyers there but they did not make an offer.

The home sold in negotiations for $990,000, the reserve price.

“It was a solid house, great spot, it had the opportunity to improve it down the track,” he said.

Sacco had noticed more homes passing in and selling by negotiation later, rather than selling on auction floors, but said homes are still selling and selling well. Buyers are still looking, and the amount of stock available is tightening up, he said.