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A one-bedroom converted stable in South Yarra sold for $1,571,000 at auction on Sunday.
The warehouse-style home at 21 Joy Street was listed with a price guide of $1.2 million to $1.25 million and had a reserve of $1.25 million. It has polished concrete floors, its original circular windows and a small courtyard.
The auction drew a crowd of about 50 people and lasted 25 minutes.
A vendor bid of $1.15 million kicked things off before it went back and forth between two bidders.
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The successful buyer was moving from interstate, while the underbidder was a professional looking to move into the area.
David Volpato from Marshall White Stonnington said the home drew interest from young professionals, singles, downsizers and interstate buyers.
“The uniqueness of the property is what made the result,” he said.
“Although it was only one bedroom, it was very architecturally and aesthetically unique. It was a converted stable, almost on par with a warehouse conversion, which always tends to be popular,” he said.
“It was beyond what we were expecting. We knew it would be popular, but we weren’t sure where it would finish price-wise.”
Volpato said the area was a drawcard. “It’s quite a secluded little pocket. You’ve got Hawksburn Village, cafes and restaurants, everything’s literally at your doorstep.”
The property was one of 1074 scheduled to go to auction in Melbourne last week. By Saturday evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 70.2 per cent from 811 reported results throughout the week, while 66 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
Elsewhere, a new four-bedroom house sold for $1,305,000 under the hammer in Coburg.
The house at 37A Autumn Street was listed with a price guide of $1.2 million to $1.3 million and had a reserve of $1.32 million.
There is no legal requirement for a vendor’s reserve to be in line with their property’s price guide.
Bidding kicked off at $1.2 million from a young couple, with four bidders in total – three families and the young couple – competing for the property. The auction lasted about 10 minutes.
Raphael Calik-Houston from Ray White Coburg said the property attracted interest because “it’s brand new … it’s good for families … and the position is very good. You’ve got cafes and a popular bakery right next door.”
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He said the successful buyers were “a very beautiful family”. Houston added: “They’ve got two daughters … they didn’t want much of a backyard, so it’s low maintenance.”
The underbidders were the young couple who put the first bid.
Located near Harmony Park, Coburg North Plaza, Coburg Station and Sydney Road, Calik-Houston said the area is “very, very sought after”.
“It might get even more popular, because it’s building up… [There’s] more cafes, more restaurants, more apartment buildings near Sydney Road.”
A warehouse conversion in Fitzroy passed in at auction and is now on the market for $955,000.
The two-bedroom apartment at 15/183 Kerr Street was listed with a price guide of $900,000 to $950,000. The reserve was set at $955,000.
One bidder opened the auction at $900,000 before the property was passed in. The young first home buyer later increased their offer to $925,000, which was rejected. The home drew a crowd of about 30 people.
Andrew Melilli from Nelson Alexander Fitzroy described the apartment as “a really quirky, unique, beautiful apartment” that had been “featured in design magazines”.
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“But it doesn’t have any outdoor area, and the stairs made it a little tricky for downsizers,” Melilli said.
Melilli said that despite the result, demand across the inner north had been improving, with single-fronted homes priced under $1.4 million performing well.
“That’s where a lot of young professional couples are looking. They’ve got around a million or a bit more to spend, and they’re re-emerging now that the market’s starting to rise again,” Melilli said.
PRD Real Estate chief economist Dr Diaswati Mardiasmo said the Melbourne market has been “completely stable … which is not a surprise at all, given that the RBA just kept the cash rate stable”.
“There has literally been basically no change in terms of the economics, in terms of demand, in terms of all of the conditions,” she said.
Dr Mardiasmo added that while many buyers want to move before Christmas, “the demand is there… it’s just that the urgency to do anything is not”.
She predicted the market would remain steady in the near term: “I just think that we’re just going to see a stable market for the next month or so.”
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