28 October 2017

Good properties sold well on the weekend but stock levels remain low and buyers may need to fight harder for the better homes.

Under the weight of numbers, the Melbourne property market held up well, with the REIV reporting a 73% clearance rate at 6pm on Saturday.

Numbers at auctions were healthy, we felt, and the good properties sold very well, with multiple bidders, and the prices continue to rise.  With lower stock levels, buyers are fighting harder for the better ‘completed’ homes, good renovation options and well-located land opportunities.

Vendors hoping buyers might continue paying ‘A’ grade prices for ‘B’ and ‘C’ grade properties (as they were earlier this year) may need to adjust their price expectations if they want to see ‘sold’ stickers on their boards, as the gap between the goodies and those that are overpriced (and/or have been advised by agents they will get high prices) or with issues begins to grow. As always though, the price quote and skill of the agent/agency remains all-important.

Highlights:

 

  • 15 Motherwell Street South Yarra (Mark Harris/Nicholas Brooks, Marshall White) – single-storey home with OSP, ready for the next update (yet still very liveable) and well positioned to amenities – the mid-week auction saw eight bidders compete – $3,610,000
  • 356 New Street Brighton (Nick Johnstone/Russ Enticott, Nick Johnstone RE) – single storey, heritage-protected home on 1454sqm – three bidders – $5,410,000
  • 7 Lovell Street Hawthorn East (Simon Curtain/Andrew Harlock, Abercromby’s) – 5 bed, 5 bathroom ‘volume build home’ on 981 sqm – four bidders – $5,180,000
  • 35 Windermere Crescent Brighton (Phillip Mellody/Tom Davidson, Buxton) – renovated home, multiple living spaces, north rear – four bidders – $3,600,000

Of note, there were 20 reported homes sold last week over $4 million, many with multiple bidders – some of the bigger ones include:

  • 2 Elwood Street Brighton – over $5,500,000
  • 33 Grant Street Malvern East – $6,125,000
  • 10 Russell Street Camberwell – toward $5,500,000
  • 25 Munro Street Armadale – $6,050,000
  • 82 Argyle Road Kew – $5,800,000
  • 3 Wandeen Road Glen Iris – $5,355,000

‘Land’ Sales:

  • 30 Hillcrest Avenue Kew (Nikki McCarthy/Glen Coutinho, RT Edgar) – executor’s auction, generous land size (865sqm approx.) basic house right near the cemetery and within heritage overlay. Sold well for $2,720,000 or $3,144/sqm
  • 71 Orlando Street Hampton (Sam Harrison/Mark Earle, Buxton) – approx. 557sqm with an original, smaller timber home, probably more suited as a new build site, between Hampton Street and the beach – $2,670,000 or $4,793sqm
  • 31 Arthur Avenue Brighton (Peter Kennett/Tamara Whelan, Hocking Stuart) – approx. 920sqm, north-facing rear, an older ‘modern’ home that for some was a ‘new build site – $4,690,000 or $5,097sqm
  • 1 Highgate Hill Toorak (Gowan Stubbings/Julia de Camo, Kay & Burton) – approx. 600sqm corner site with a late 70s/early 80s home – undisclosed in the high $5millions – or creeping closer to $10,000sqm

Some of the better properties, due to auction on November 18

64 Mason Street South Yarra – Nathan Waterson/Andrew MacMillan (Jellis Craig)

5 Lorac Avenue Brighton – Andrew Campbell/Ben Veith (Marshall White)

22 Burns Street Elwood – Nick Jones / Torsten Kasper (Chisholm & Gamon)

14 Harts Parade Hawthorn East – Nick Elmore / Tim Mursell (Hocking Stuart)

‘Off-market’ Properties:       

Off market properties are around in volume at the moment, but they aren’t necessarily priced to sell:

  • Larger townhouse, Malvern East – over $4,500,000
  • Single fronted home, Hawthorn East – early $2millions
  • Family home, Brighton – $4,500,000
  • Renovated, well located smaller home, North Brighton – early $3millions
  • 90s home, good land, Glen Iris – high $2millions
  • Family home, Malvern East – early 3millions

Auction Spotlight:

54 Lucas St Brighton

David Hart from Buxton led the auction, which gave the new owners a solid family home in one of the best streets in Brighton East.

 

This home offers comfortable family living, although looking for a freshen-up, with four ensuited bedrooms, combined with formal and informal living zones. The home is positioned well on the 654sqm block, allowing for opportunities to add an entertaining area and potentially a pool (STCA) positioned to catch the afternoon sun within the good-sized south-rear garden.  As a mortgagee auction, David Hart from Buxton had clear instructions from the NAB to sell at a certain level. An optimistic opening bid of $1.8m and then $1.9m was quickly followed by a vendor bid of $2.4m to bring proceedings to a more acceptable level. A third and fourth bidder soon joined in, before some retreated. Bidder 3 tried to seal the deal with a larger jump, which brought the property on the market at $2.7m and was eventually successful at $2.71m.

10 Russell Street Camberwell

Hot price and hot auction: 10 Russell St sold for well in excess of half a million dollars over reserve.

Under the canopies of pretty plane trees in Russell Street stood a solid crowd of around 100 people for this auction, which was clearly going to be a good one. The house ticked a lot of boxes and got the formula right with a lot of bedroom accommodation (six toilets would you believe!), a pretty facade and an A-grade Tara Estate location. Auctioneer Sam Wilkinson gave a concise, no-nonsense preamble and it didn’t take long for crowd participation here after the initial ‘beautiful’ $4m vendor bid. Two bidders back and forth at $50K bids, and the property was declared on the market at $4.75m. Bidder 3 joined in later around the $5m mark but bidder 1 prevailed, buying the property under the hammer for $5.35m. Hot price and hot auction – vendor must be very pleased. Not a bad return after buying the home unrenovated in late 2008 for around the $1.5m mark.