A Melbourne couple is swapping life in a suburban house for retirement on a houseboat after selling for $693,000 to a first-home buyer.
Agent Adrian Prestileo of Ray White Craigieburn says the retired vendor and his wife are elated to finally exchange bricks and mortar for a future on the water.
“They were just waiting for the right time to make the move, and it definitely paid off because now they’re moving and living the dream,” he says. Prestileo declined to share where the houseboat will be moored.
The sale contributed to Melbourne’s clearance rate of 56 per cent from 574 scheduled auctions and 382 reported to Domain. Across the city, 213 properties sold, 73 were withdrawn and 96 passed in.
The buyers and sellers made a point of warmly congratulating each other.
“Both vendor and purchaser introduced themselves, and they were really happy – a nice young couple and a nice older couple, just in two different parts of life, wanting to piece together the puzzle,” Prestileo says.
The auction opened at $630,000. “Then it went nuts from there,” Prestileo says. The contest progressed in $10,000 increments and slowed around mid-$670,000 to bids of $5000, $2500 and $1000. The bidders refused to give up, trading increments of $100 and $500 until the hammer fell at $8000 above the reserve.
The buyers had their nine-month-old baby in tow and were relieved to come out on top.
“I think they’ve been looking for some time, so they definitely wanted an outcome, and they had obviously a few choices in the market,” Prestileo says. They told Prestileo they planned to bid at another auction later that day if they missed out.
Prestileo says the first-home buyer market in his area remains competitive, while investors have gone to ground.
20 Hennessy Street, Craigieburn VIC 3064
The 689-square-metre block at 140 Queen Street has a 15-metre frontage and was marketed as an ideal site for new duplexes in the growing inner-west suburb.
However, the winning family has plans to move in, agent Tarun Sethi of McGrath Strathfield says.
Sydney’s clearance rate was 48 per cent, after 571 auctions were reported to Domain from the 985 scheduled. Vendors successfully sold 276 properties, but 97 were passed in, and 208 were withdrawn.
All registered bidders took part in the auction, which opened with a bid of $2.1 million and rose in hard-hitting increments of $50,000, tightening to $20,000 and $10,000 as the competition wore on.
The auctioneer called the property on the market at $2.3 million, which was exactly the campaign price guide. Two more bids of $5000 were enough to bring the contest to a close.
The home has a double garage with a kitchenette for entertaining, under-house storage and an attic, queen-sized bedrooms, a covered outdoor area and a patio.
Sethi says the 500-metre walk to the train station and the scope for a potential dual-occupancy build was an “attractive proposition” for the two developers.
The property is also in the sweet spot for demand in his market. “That pocket between $2 million and $3 million is quite sought after,” he says. “Anything with land value is very highly sought after, and anything turnkey. This is somewhere in between.”
Concord West is one of the areas the NSW government has earmarked for significant growth through its low and mid-rise housing strategy. A 3.14-hectare former industrial site next to the train station is among the rezoning changes, making way for residential towers.
140 Queen Street, Concord West NSW 2138
In Brisbane, the Domain clearance rate came in at 19 per cent. Citywide, 225 auctions were scheduled, and 147 results were reported, with 28 properties sold, 105 passed in and 14 withdrawn.
Although Brisbane’s clearance rate is a fraction of the 60 per cent achieved on the same weekend last year, there were still flashpoints.
41 Bailey Street, New Farm QLD 4005
The result was topped only by the $11.95 million sale of Federation estate Skara Brae, overlooking the Pacific Ocean at 19 St Thomas Street in Bronte, on the books of agent Alexander Phillips of Ray White Phillips & Co .
Despite some strong results, the nation’s auction market is entering the last month of spring amid a worsening downturn.
Median house prices dropped in every capital city over the September quarter for the first time in 15 years and the second time on record, according to the latest Domain House Price Report .
19 St Thomas Street, Bronte NSW 2024
Emily Power Emily Power has been a newsroom journalist for almost 20 years. She was previously the editor of Domain magazine in Melbourne, and is a specialist in property reporting.
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