Saturday was the first auction day for summer and some results were a little patchy. Whilst we still saw solid results for good homes, there were quite a few pass-ins particularly for properties on some of the busier streets of Bayside – 106 Abbott Sandringham, 14 Highett Hampton, 8 Carpenter Brighton, 176 Cochrane Brighton and 37 Male Brighton.

Balwyn North again had a lower than Melbourne average clearance rate, a contrast compared to mid-year when most properties were selling.

Hawthorn East was solid with good results at 5 Harold Street (Stuart Evans/McGregor, Marshall White), 20 Invermay Grove (Parker/Murphy, Hocking Stuart) and 6 Rosslyn Street (Sutherland/Ptak, Marshall White).

One of the trends we have seen this year has been the offering of multiple dwelling properties on one title – 111 Tennyson Street Elwood, 41 Grandview Grove Prahran, 3 Corsewell Close Hawthorn, 41 Atkins Street Kew to name a few.

Two more sold last week – both were older (c1920/1930) apartments:

Auction Spotlight:

Land sales:

Off-markets:

Auction Highlights: 

1-4/95-97 Simpson Street, East Melbourne (Andrew Crotty, Biggin & Scott), sold $3.121m, 3 bidders

A really good crowd of about 150 turned out with the auction of the 95 year old apartment block of four in East Melbourne.  According to auctioneer Andrew Crotty it took 15 years to get this listing, and he gave a spirited yet concise preamble. Opening with a bid of $2.1m, it didn’t take too long for this to reach well beyond $2.5m with two bidders. Not long after bidder 3 came in to play and bidding stated to slow down with a serious of smaller bids between bidders 2 and 3. At $2.888m a mini-break was taken and instructions were checked with the vendor. Shortly after the property was announced on the market and the bidding continued in fractured amounts. At $3.121m the property sold to bidder 3 – a really big result yet given the rarity of offering and close proximity to the CBD, no doubt the purchasers would be very pleased.

2 Alford Street, Brighton East (Jack Johnstone, Buxton), sold $1.62m, 3 bidders

Jack Johnstone confidently stepped out on to Alford St as though he’d been auctioning for years! The 65 or so people in the crowd were treated to a thorough and entertaining preamble before Jack launched in to the formal part of the auction – the search for bids. Bidder 1 was quick to join in with an opening bid of $1.2m. Bidders 2 and 3 entered the fray not long afterwards and after a flurry of bids, Jack announced we were selling at $1.4m. The avalanche of bids continued until the hammer came down to the delighted new owner at $1.62m.

8 Joyce St, Elwood (Torsten Kasper, Chisholm & Gamon), sold $2.53m, 6 bidders

The quiet tree-lined Joyce Street was buzzing as the crowd eagerly awaited the start of the auction at number 8. Torsten Kasper took centre stage and after a thorough preamble called for an opening bid. All remained quiet so Torsten tabled a vendor bid of $1.9m to kickstart proceedings – and kickstart it, he did! Bidders 1,2 and 3 entered quickly and took bidding to $2.02m. Bidder 4 put forward a ‘knock-out’ bid of $2.2m and soon after Torsten advised that the reserve had been met and we were selling. In total there were six bidders – the hammer finally coming down at $2.53m to a round of applause and a very relieved new owner!

• If you are searching for a twist to the traditional candle, Miss White’s soy candles in reusable marble holders are a great Christmas gift idea! We recommend them highly!