June 9, 2015

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Jen Milligan
Camberwell: 9 Bringa Ave (Peter Vigano, Jellis Craig), under hammer, $3.316m

Camberwell: 9 Bringa Ave (Peter Vigano, Jellis Craig), under hammer, $3.316m

A shortened Market Pulse from us this week as there were only a very few auctions due to the Queen’s Birthday weekend. Numbers at opens were down and expectedly so given many people were away. That said, there are some good properties up for sale right now.

A feature auction of the weekend was 9 Bringa Avenue Camberwell:

Opening with a vendor bid of $2.7m, auctioneer Peter Vigano (Jellis Craig) gave a no-nonsense preamble for this auction, where a solid crowd of around 100 turned up to see what would transpire. Not long after the start, bidders 1 and 2 went into battle and the property was announced on the market at just over the $3m mark. Enter Bidder 3 shortly after and the heat picked up. Sitting down and a bit deflated, our original bidder looked gone and the auction went up a level, with Bidder 2 winning the day at $3.316m. This was a telling result and a good indication of the market right now, as we remember next door (no.11) selling strongly last year for $2.56m. That had a similar land size yet a slightly lesser home.

Unknown-3

Camberwell: 9 Bringa Ave, (Peter Vigano, Jellis Craig)

‘Off market’ properties are alive and well right now.  A few of the better ones we have been through this week include:

  • Well-built modern architect-designed home in Hawthorn – circle $4m
  • Solid, English style family home in Toorak – north facing rear – circle $4m
  • Well presented two-storey Victorian ROW terrace, short walk to Lygon Street and Melbourne Uni – circle $1.5m
  • Single storey home, walk to shops, Brighton, mid $2’s

Good properties we visited this week that should attract solid competition:

  • 35 Tourello Avenue, Hawthorn East (Tim Heavyside, Fletchers). A great block of land – it really doesn’t get much better in this area. 920sqm, north facing rear and over 20m frontage.
  • 26 Wattle Valley Road Canterbury (Desiree Wakim, Marshall White). Well renovated and extended period family home, good-sized corner block, walk to Maling Road. With a shortage of good family homes this should be competitive.  Although the kitchen was perhaps a tad small the rear open plan area worked really well and had a nice feel, with good balance of formal and informal spaces.
  • 2 Munro Street Brighton (David Hart, Buxton). Basic double-fronted timber Victorian, liveable now with options to improve.  This property has great opportunity to extend and renovate.  Creating off-street parking at the back via the side laneway may also be possible.  Another potential for downsizers prepared to do a little work, given proximity to Church St shops.
Unknown-2

Canterbury: 26 Wattle Valley Road, high ceilings and good window placement bring in plenty of sunlight

Architecturally Speaking:

Many people who have recently bought are taking the next step and commencing renovations earlier than originally planned.  With money currently affordable, the increased property prices have provided the additional equity to start works early.

If you like where you live, the option to renovate (if done well and cleverly) may be a great solution, as the price jump to the next property is becoming prohibitive for many.

As always, it is really important to buy a home with excellent flexibility as it provides the opportunity to do this this and it gives you options –  for example it could be better for young singles/couples to buy a 600sqm unrenovated, smaller home, that can easily be upgraded, than a glitzy, modern-finished townhouse with small land content and no option to extend or improve.

The value of a good architect as always is hard to quantity in dollar terms.

FullSizeRender[10]

Renovations underway in Beaumaris