Young couple win keys to $937,000 apartment in bayside suburb

A plush, two-bedroom apartment with bay views in Port Melbourne sold for $937,000 following a bidding war at auction on Saturday.

The inner south-east unit at 100/1 Graham Street, which features a walk-in-robe and two-car parking, was guided at $880,000 to $920,000.

It was on sale for the first time since it was built 25 years ago and had a reserve of $910,000.

The auction, led by Jellis Craig Port Phillip auctioneer Simon Gowling, was slow to start as buyers hesitated to bid.

Gowling opened with a vendor’s bid of $880,000, and was soon asked by two members of the public if the property was on the market. Replying no, he nearly passed the auction in before the first bidder, a young couple, offered $890,000.

A second bidder jumped in at $895,000, and was quickly countered by the couple at $900,000.

Gowling called the property on the market at $920,000 after which the two bidders fought in increments of $500 until the young couple placed the final bid of $937,000.

Agent Cheyne Fox said the underbidder, a father who was bidding on behalf of his daughter, a first home buyer, was being very conservative.

“With looming interest rate rises, every $500 counts,” she said. The purchasers were also first home buyers who had inspected the unit a couple of times, and were excited to move to Port Melbourne.

The property was one of 1250 scheduled to go to auction in Melbourne this week. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 59 per cent from 878 reported results throughout the week, while 113 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

A family looking to downsize has won the keys to a four-bedroom Strathmore house after placing the winning bid of $1,972,000 at auction.

The home at 272 Napier Street, situated on a 646sqm block, was listed for $1.8 million to $1,925,000.

Nelson Alexander Essendon lead agent and auctioneer Ryan Currie said the auction, which had three bidders, opened with a bid of $1.8 million after a slow start.

“It got to $1.85 million fairly quickly, then everyone just stood back. I went in and consulted the vendor at half-time. I came back out and placed a vendor bid of $1.9 million and then the bidding came quite quickly up to 1.93,” he said.

The reserve was $1,940,000. There is no legal requirement for a vendor’s reserve to be in line with their property’s price guide.

The buyers were a couple downsizing from an acre, Currie said, who have always wanted to live in the area.

The vendors, a young family, were upsizing and had recently bought locally. They were selling to fund renovations.

Earlier, a young first home buyer paid $50,000 over reserve for the keys to a two-bedroom home in Melbourne’s inner south-west, outbidding three other parties in a rapid-fire auction.

The villa at 1/25 Hope Street, Spotswood, with a price guide of $600,000 to $660,000, features a study nook and paved courtyard.

Agent George Alexander, of Jas Stephens Real Estate, said the buyer, a “young girl looking to owner-occupy for the first time … bought it from the ladies that had been there for decades” for $720,000. The property’s reserve was $670,000.

The auction, which opened with a genuine bid of $600,000, attracted mainly first home buyers.Alexander added that homes which are renovated, presented well and priced right “have got a lot of demand”.

In Watsonia, in Melbourne’s north-east, a couple buying their first home snapped up a four-bedroom house for $1,146,000.

Featuring multiple living zones across two levels and a sizable backyard, the house at 10 Medbury Avenue was guided at $950,000 to $1 million, with a reserve of $1 million.

Darren Jones Real Estate auctioneer and lead agent Ashley Croall said the auction, while slow to begin, gained momentum until the low millions, with five parties bidding.

The buyers were a young couple who had been looking for six months, Croall said, and had missed out on a “few homes across the journey”.

Croall echoed Alexander’s views of the market, saying demand was greatest for “homes that are nicely renovated”.

He said while a potential interest rate rise next week and global economic instability were dampening some buyer confidence, “if you were buying a house in February, you’re probably buying a house in May”.