A four-bedroom home in Hawthorn was snapped up by an expatriate family returning from the USA, for a whopping $8,020,000.
The sale of 25 Hawthorn Grove, Hawthorn was well above the $7.3 million reserve. Three bidders fought it out, with offers opening at $7 million.
Serious bidding continued between the buyers, who were all families, wanting to live close to the private schools nearby. In the end, the expatriate family, represented by a buyers’ advocate, were the winning bidders.
The home originally built in 1892, features hydronic heating and a subfloor wine cellar and last sold for $3.85 million, records show.
Kay & Burton Boroondara’s Scott Patterson said for houses priced at this level, interest rates were not a factor, however, he believed the recent pause in rates had added confidence to the top of the market.
A buyers’ advocate represented the buyers.Credit: Kay & Burton Borooondara
In Sunshine West, a four-bedroom Chilean ranch-style home sold to a local family who bid $1,322,500 to beat out four other bidders for the keys.
The property at 12 Kutcher Court sold well above its advertised price range of $1.05 million to $1.15 million, despite a lowball opening bid of $800,000, Ray White Sunshine auctioneer Marcus Fregonese said.
The unique home in Kutcher Court was built 22 years ago by the vendors, after they migrated from Chile, and includes a terracotta and green colour scheme.
He believed the sale price was a record for the suburb, beating the previous record set in Sunshine West in 2017, when 9 Armstrong Street sold for $1,315,000.
The home has a terracotta and green colour scheme.Credit: Ray White Sunshine
“Family homes like this are going extremely well in Sunshine at the moment,” Fregonese said. “There is a shortage of this kind of stock, but a lot of investors are getting out of the market, so there is more being listed.”
The Sunshine West auction was one of 659 scheduled across Melbourne on Saturday. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 68 per cent from 486 reported results, while 40 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
A two-bedroom house with a “rare as hen’s teeth” driveway in Richmond sold at auction for $1,432,000 on Saturday, to a first home buyer who made a final $1000 bid to win the keys.
The property at 34 Tudor Street, was one of only a few in the popular inner-city suburb with a driveway to park the car, which made it very popular with young buyers, said Jellis Craig Richmond director and auctioneer Elliot Gill.
The auction began with a bid of $950,000, which was well below the advertised price range of $1.15 million to $1.25 million.
However, the next bid of $1.15 million showed bidders were serious, and sparked a quick succession of $20,000 and $10,000 bids between four potential buyers.
The house was called on the market at $1.25 million, and the bidding continued. When two bidders dropped out of the race, two women – one of them the first home buyer – traded $1000 offers until the home was sold.
Gill said the lack of stock on the market in Richmond had frustrated some buyers, even though more was expected during spring. Some people had spent more than a year looking, he said.
“The buyer hadn’t been looking for very long, but there were some people in the crowd that have been looking for more than a year,” Gill said.
“The underbidder had been searching for a very long time.”
Homes on Tudor Street have a heritage overlay as the area is part of a development from the 1940s, built on the old Richmond racecourse, which means the new owner is unable to tear down the home.
The vendors had owned the property since 2011, and rented it out in the past few years, and sold it to cash in on their investment.
Jellis Craig’s Elliot Gill said some buyers have been looking for their first or next property for more than a year.Credit: Joe Armao
In Avondale Heights, a four-bedroom house that had been built by its original owner, went under the hammer for $1,325,000.
The home on 650 square metres of land, at 29 Thackeray Quadrant was snapped up by a family after the property was called on the market at $1.18 million.
The family were one of five bidders and made a final $500 bid to seal the deal. The auction, in front of a crowd of around 70 people, opened with a $900,000 offer.
That bid was below the $1.05 million to $1.15 million price guide, and a second vendor bid was needed to take it to $1 million. That prompted more bids from buyers, most of them families.
Barry Plant’s Paul Filippone said the home, which had only one owner, was a 1980s time capsule, and remained in original condition since it was built.
Filippone said the vendor got his building licence specifically to build the family home. The vendor is to move into aged care and the man’s two sons were at the auction in what was a bittersweet sale.
“For their father the house was a labour of love,” Filippone said.
Closer to the city, in Malvern, a three-bedroom home at 5 Spring Road also sold at auction for $3,502,000.
The property had been owned since 2000 by the same family, who bought the home from a developer.
Five bidders competed, including a young family and four downsizers. The family made the final, winning bid.
The bidding opened on a vendor bid of $2.5 million, with offers of $25,000 and $5000 taking the price to its reserve of $2.75 million.
Marshall White Stonnington partner and auctioneer Jack Moss said good family homes were still selling well, but the test for the market would come in spring, when more homes were listed for sale.
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