West Footscray house sells post-auction for $1,175,000 after passing in

A West Footscray home which passed in at Saturday’s auction following a single bid ended up selling in post-auction negotiations for $1,175,000.

Despite attracting a large crowd, the auction of the three-bedroom, two-bathroom house at 6 Dyson Street, guided at $1,075,000 to $1,175,000, was slow to start, forcing Village Real Estate agent and auctioneer Joseph Luppino to work hard for the only bid that came his way.

After placing a vendor’s bid of $1.1 million, Luppino succeeded in eliciting a genuine bid of $1,120,000 about 12 minutes into the auction before passing the house in. The reserve price was $1.2 million.

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

“It was a bit surprising – we had other interested parties here in the crowd, they just didn’t raise their hand,” he said. “We are seeing that a lot more these days.”

However, after nearly an hour of negotiations, the bidder – a local young family – purchased the house for $25,000 under the reserve.

Luppino said the vendors, who moved to Warrnambool during the COVID years, had kept the house with the intention of moving back to Melbourne, but ultimately decided to stay in Warrnambool to be closer to family.

The property was one of 147 scheduled to go to auction in Melbourne this week.

Regarding the market, Luppino said while buyers were more nervous, they were still in the game.

“The market is not bad – we’ve recently set the record twice in West Footscray in the last month and a half,” he said, adding that a lack of “good properties” on the market were also responsible for the slower market.

“I think people are just holding back, but by holding back they are missing out – you just got to buy when they [homes] come up,” he said.

In Melbourne’s south-east, two young couples battled it out for a three-bedroom townhouse in Murrumbeena, which sold under the hammer for $925,000.

The “thoughtfully refreshed” townhouse at 7/223 Murrumbeena Road was listed with a price guide of $880,000 to $930,000, with a reserve of $920,000.

Buxton Real Estate Bentleigh agent and auctioneer Ivan Blow started the auction with a vendor’s bid of $850,000, which was followed by a genuine bid of $860,000. From there, bidding quickly reached reserve.

“The successful couple had help from one of their parents – dad was bidding back boldly and confidently, and the other party was hesitating, and when they did bid, dad bid straight back,” he said.

“People say is there a strategy, and more often than not I will say no, the highest bidder will win on the day, but in this instance, dad’s confident bidding certainly made a difference and maybe rattled the underbidder,” he added.

Commenting on the market, Blow said April “is always a quiet month with Easter and school holidays”, and that March was a successful sales month.

“We were finding the market was a lot more concerning in January and February … but I think most people have factored the rate rises in now,” he said.

Meanwhile in Fawkner, in Melbourne’s north, an investor outbid four other parties to buy a house built in the early ’60s and still in its original condition.

The three-bedroom house at 148 Lorne Street, situated on a 727 square metre allotment, was listed as an “original home ready for renewal”, with a price guide of $780,000 to $820,000. It had a reserve of $800,000.

Ray White Coburg lead agent Laksh Jassal said despite a “very slow auction”, the house sold under the hammer for $866,000, with five parties bidding.

“It started with a $700,000 genuine bid, went to $720,000, and then we had to take a quick pause and talk to the vendor before putting in a vendor’s bid of $770,000,” Jassal said.

“That’s when the auction actually kicked in.”

The buyer was a local man purchasing his first investment property, who will renovate the home before renting it out.

The nearest underbidder was an older couple from Turkey who were looking for their first home.

Jassal said while there “has been a shift in the market based on the current [global] situation”, people were still buying, just more carefully.

“We are still getting good prices … we’ve just lost the urgency to buy now, where a lot of buyers are not really keen to put an offer in.”