Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. TOTOTO An updated California bungalow located between Thornbury’s High and Station streets sold for $1.85 million at auction Saturday, putting $50,000 over its reserve according to three bidders. The newly renovated three-bedroom house at 154 Gooch
An updated California bungalow located between Thornbury’s High and Station streets sold for $1.85 million at auction Saturday, putting $50,000 over its reserve according to three bidders.
The newly renovated three-bedroom house at 154 Gooch Street features a spacious open-plan entertaining space, a separate study and lush gardens, all within a 10-minute walk of the cafes of High Street, rated the coolest street in the world by time is up magazine in 2024.
It had a guide price of between $1.7 million and $1.75 million and a reserve of $1.8 million. There is no legal requirement for a seller’s reserve to be in line with their property’s price guide.
The property was one of 588 scheduled to go up for auction in Melbourne last week. On Saturday night, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 57 percent from 386 results reported during the week, while 71 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
The liquidation rate remains below the 60 percent threshold that is generally considered a balanced market: it was 67 percent this time last year. While there is generally a reduction in properties going to auction in winter, some agents said stocks fell even more than expected, with a third as many auctions scheduled last week compared to the peak in March this year.
Jellis Craig Northcote agent and auctioneer Luke Brizzi thought 154 Gooch Street had attracted buyers, even now, because people “buy based on what they feel”. He said potential buyers had commented on how comfortable the house felt.
The auction opened at $1.7 million, rising in increments of $20,000 before reaching the reserve of $1.8 million, then dropping to bids of $10,000 and $5,000 before selling to a local family.
Brizzi said the bidders were also a local family, and that the third bidder was an elderly woman bidding on behalf of her children, who reside in New York.
“They recognized it was a good time to buy,” Mr Brizzi said, and were hoping to purchase a property now for when they returned to Australia.
The sellers purchased the home in 2020 for $1.69 million and were moving to be closer to family.
Brizzi said that while the market was down overall, “in that $1 million to $2 million range there are still a lot of people interested.”
On Sunday, a three-bedroom brick house on a deep block in Seabrook sold for $740,000, and a local owner-occupier beat out an interstate investor to get closer to his daughter.
Sharing a fence with Kingfisher Drive Reserve, 17 Seaside Close was being sold by its reduced owners at what Ray White Point Cook agent Ash Mahajan said was “a little less than others in the area” because it probably needed updating.
“I wanted between $30,000 and $40,000 in touch-ups,” he said. The property had a guide price of $696,000 to $765,000 and a reserve of $735,000.
Auctioneer Amar Thakkar opened the auction at $690,000, just below the guide. Three bidders raised the price in increments of $10,000. The auction was then reduced to bids of $5,000 and ended just above the reserve.
Mahajan said the house had sold well due to the limited stock in the area and the realistic expectations of older sellers, who were ready to move.
“They didn’t want to spend anything and were… happy to let it go, no matter what they got that day,” he said.
A three-bedroom house in Box Hill North, in its original 1970s state, sold for $960,000 at auction on Saturday, with two bidders pushing it past its reserve of $950,000.
On a 532 square meter corner block, 18 Woodhouse Grove had a guide price of between $900,000 and $990,000, adjusted down from an original $1 million to $1.1 million at the end of June.
CHN agent and auctioneer Calvin Chan said the sellers were moving into a senior care facility and, although the house was immaculately maintained, he thought that had limited its appeal to buyers who were willing to “spend some money and make it their own.”
Chan said bidding opened at $900,000, steadily increased in $5,000 increments and finally sold for $10,000 above reserve.
He said the buyers lived in a neighboring suburb and saw the opportunity for renovation, as well as its prime location on one of Box Hill North’s main residential streets.
Chan thought that while the market appeared to be down overall, the home had also done well due to limited supply in the area, with sellers holding back after three consecutive rate increases and the impact of changes to negative gearing and capital gains rebate announced in May’s federal budget, but he was optimistic the market was stabilizing.
“Everyone is aware of those impacts,” he said. “Buyers, sellers, agents, and there seems to have been a price adjustment across the board.”
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