June 18, 2016
Middle Park: 319 Richardson St (Greg Hocking Holdsworth) sold $3.63m
With the first half of the year almost over and only one more auction weekend to go, Saturday’s auctions continued as expected – some strong results for the good quality homes and we saw multiple bidding at all the properties we attended. Perhaps we were following the good ones!
Of note, we thought the bidding in general was more considered, even on those properties with 4 or 5 bidders involved. If the property was not quite right or not priced right, however, vendors were left disappointed.
Auction Highlights:
Two in Harold!
- 82 Harold Street, Middle Park (Ada Taylor/Warwick Anderson, RT Edgar) – auctioned first – approximately 225sqm and needing renovation – $2.005m or just under $9,000sqm
- 76 Harold Street, Middle Park (Simon Carruthers, Cayzer RE) – approximately 288sqm, also ripe for renovation – $2.36million and just over $8,000sqm
Land Sales:
- 11 Kerferd Street, Hampton (Nick Johnstone, Nick Johnstone RE) – 568sqm corner block (with a little bit cut out of the south east corner) had 5 bidders although it started slowly, the pace picking up once the property was announced on the market at $1.5million – bought $1.61m or $2,834sqm
- 10 Howard Street, Glen Iris (Will & Tim Bennison, Jellis Craig) – 858sqm and although with a classic 1980s home, still advertised with a land box, sold for an undisclosed amount toward the mid $2millions or around $2,800sqm
- 5 Central Avenue, Black Rock (Nick Jones, Chisholm & Gamon) – 624sqm, 2 bedroom clinker brick home – $1,440,000 or $2,307sqm
Off Market:
- Modern family home, Hampton – early $2millions
- Large renovated home on good land, Toorak – $6m+
- Renovated single fronted home, South Melbourne – early $1millions
Auction Spotlight:
Sandringham: 46 Sims St (Jenny Dwyer/Steve Tickell, Hocking Stuart), sold for $3.42m
46 Sims Street, Sandringham (Jenny Dwyer/Stephen Tickell, Hocking Stuart)
A crowd of around 100 gathered both indoors and under the large alfresco area to watch four bidders fight for this well-positioned, modern family home. On the market at $3.21m, the successful purchasers (and no doubt vendors) delighted with their new home, the final result – $3.42m
Prahran: 22 Kelvin Grove (Daniel Wheeler/Justin Krongold, Marshall White), sold $3.33m
22 Kelvin Grove, Prahran (Daniel Wheeler/Justin Krongold, Marshall White)
Despite the chilly weather, a good sized crowd of about 65 people lined both sides of the street, to see what would transpire at the auction of this renovated Edwardian. Daniel opened on a vendor bid of $2.8m before Bidder 1 chimed in with at $25K rise. Bidder 2 entered the contest soon after and some quick bidding ensued before Daniel announced the home was on the market at $3.25m. A battle between the parties continued until the hammer came down at $3.33m.
Hampton: 11 Kerferd St (Nick Johnstone), sold $1.61m, 5 bidders
Agent Opinion: ‘Have the public, school and Easter holidays throughout the first half of 2016 interfered with flow and momentum in the property market? How have the first 6 months of 2016 compared to the same time last year? Do you expect to have a more settled second half year? Or more of the same?’
James Tostevin (Marshall White): ‘School and public holidays have certainly been a factor, especially in the first quarter as Easter was so early. Having said that, it is both surprising and a little puzzling as to why more people aren’t selling given the real estate market is still incredibly strong overall and there are some terrific prices being achieved for our vendor clients. There is still a considerable number of buyers very motivated to buy if they see the right property, a few too many people are in the “we will sell once we buy” category and that definitely impacts on the number of properties coming on to the market.
There are definitely fewer properties on the market – we have similar levels of enquiries and number of buyers at open for inspections, the majority of auctions have spirited bidding, the biggest difference is that too many vendors have read favourable media reports about the market and have been unrealistic about their expectations. Some agents have provided advice relating to price which has given some vendors false hopes, whilst there are a vast number of Asian buyers still in the market, the number of overseas buyers who don’t have permanent residency has certainly been reduced largely due to decisions by the Australian government.nI expect more of the same, the astute vendor will really be conscious of the timing of their sale.’
Please note this will be our last Market Pulse before the school holiday break and traditional winter hiatus. We will return when auction numbers increase, in late July.
