An updated three-bedroom bungalow on a main road in Moonee Ponds sold for $1,375,000 at auction on Saturday, almost $500,000 more than it sold for less than four years ago.
Featuring soaring 3.2-metre ceilings, custom joinery, an outdoor entertaining area and double-glazing to keep the traffic noise out, 220 Maribyrnong Road had a listed reserve of $1.35 million, after a sales campaign price guide of $1.25 million to $1.35 million.
Whitefox Northside Essendon agent and auctioneer Paddy Tilli said the auction opened with a vendor bid of $1.3 million, and increased in increments of $10,000 and eventually $5000, as two bidders fought it out. The home eventually sold for $25,000 above the reserve.
Tilli said other parties were interested but pulled away in the final week as the reserve, at the top end of the guide, became public. Despite this, he said the market had seemed to pick up in the past two weeks, with listed reserves potentially contributing to the turnaround.
“Maybe vendors have come down a little bit more, maybe buyers have been waiting around too long, and there might be multiple moving parts that are contributing right now,” he said, after a period that had felt “like pulling teeth” .
The buyers were a mother and daughter from Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, and the underbidders lived in the area and wanted to upsize.
The vendors were in a similar position, having bought the home in early 2023, for $880,000, records show. They are now looking for their next home with extra space for their growing family.
The property was one of 811 scheduled to go to auction in Melbourne this week.
In Clifton Hill, a Victorian terrace house with a Hawthorn brick facade sold for $1,451,000 at auction, with five bidders pushing it more than $160,000 above its $1.29 million reserve.
On a long triangular block, 38 Hilton Street has the advantage of a rare large land holding for its inner-city location, with windows down the length of its west-facing wall looking onto a private garden, undercover patio and established trees. Inside, the two-bedroom home was well maintained, with timber floors, open spaces and a cosy kitchen, but with room to renovate.
Jellis Craig Fitzroy agent and auctioneer Charles Atkins opened with a vendor bid of $1.21 million, and two parties exchanged $10,000 bids until about $1.25 million, after which it got “a bit sluggish” before hitting the $1.29 million reserve.
From there, Atkins said, more parties joined, and five bidders competed until there were just at the $1.38 million mark. The auction slowed to $5000 bids before it closed.
“I think both that price point and the land offering, coupled with a pretty spectacular location, is why it was so well received,” Atkins said.
The successful bidder was a young first home buyer who worked locally. The vendors had owned the home for more than two decades, initially as owner-occupiers before renting it out.
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