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A three-bedroom Armadale home sold under the hammer for $1,585,000, and was called on the market after just two bids at auction on Saturday, following a curious opening bid.
The cute-as-a-button home at 1/55 Kooyong Road was snapped up by a couple from Bendigo, wanting to downsize to the city, who made a $1,368,000 offer to kick off proceedings.
Heavyside’s Tim Heavyside said their unusual bid kicked off competition between three potential buyers who all made offers. The house eventually sold above its $1.38 million reserve and $1.3 million to $1.4 million guide.
The Armadale property was one of 638 scheduled to go to auction in Melbourne last week. By Saturday evening, Domain recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 60 per cent from 450 reported results throughout the week, while 62 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
A clearance rate of 60 per cent is considered a balanced market between buyers and sellers, although the figure is likely to be revised down as more results are collected.
The sale comes as Melbourne’s property market heads into spring, a usually busy time of year, but likely to be quieter than usual this year.
New listings are down 16.3 per cent compared with the four weeks to August 23 last year, and down 9.4 per cent compared to the five-year average, Cotality data shows. Home sellers are holding off, spooked by the possibility of more interest rate rises and falls in home values, agents say.
Heavyside said the Armadale auction result was a strong one in what had been a tough market. The home had been called on the market after just two strong bids including the opener.
“It’s a very difficult market; it is quite challenging,” he said. “I’m finding it quite challenging.”
In Moonee Ponds, a three-bedroom Victorian cottage at 13 Davies Street sold for $1.36 million to a young buyer, after three bidders fought it out for the keys.
Bidding for the heritage home opened on a lowball $1.1 million, below the $1.2 million to $1.27 million guide, but the property eventually sold above the $1.26 million reserve.
Bids for the property, which had been owned by the same person since the 1980s, started slowly but took off once the home was called on the market, McDonald Upton’s Andrew Butler said.
The sale was emotional, given the original owner’s friends, who were the executors of her estate, sold it on her behalf.
Sunny weather had brought out more active buyers than in previous weeks, Butler said, and though the spring market officially kicks off next week, it appeared it had actually started on the weekend.
