5 days ago
5
A first home buyer paid $680,000 for a Moorabbin unit in post-auction negotiations on Saturday, taking the keys from its investor vendors for less than it last sold for.
The renovated two-bedroom unit at 2/97 Rowans Road had been listed with a price guide of $650,000 to $690,000.
It was one of only 312 auctions scheduled in Melbourne on Saturday, a quiet quasi-long weekend due to the upcoming Melbourne Cup holiday on Tuesday.
The Moorabbin unit market is Melbourne’s fastest-rising property market. The median unit price in Moorabbin is $752,500, on Domain data, up 26.5 per cent in the 12 months to September, the strongest rise of any suburb for either units or houses.
But the area’s growth was not quite enough for the well-presented home to reach its last sale price. Public records show the residence last traded for $710,000.
Loading
Three interested first home buyers had attended the Moorabbin auction, but not everyone had participated, Lewin Real Estate selling agent Brian Lewin said.
Proceedings began with a vendor bid at $650,000, the bottom of the quoted price range, before a live bid was placed at $670,000. Then the auction paused.
The home was passed in at that level and sold to the bidder in post-auction negotiations for $680,000, the reserve price.
Lewin understood the buyer was using the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme, which expanded in October to allow purchases by an unlimited number of buyers. He said there had been good interest in the scheme in general.
“The market is really good, the market is really strong. It is probably up 10 per cent in the last 12 weeks,” he said.
Elsewhere, another first home buyer using the scheme won the keys to a Mernda house, paying $738,500.
Proceedings for the four-bedroom home at 12 Plugges Street began with the auctioneer making a bid of $680,000, then three parties competed, Nelson Alexander Reservoir selling agent Monica Chen said.
She said the auction was slow, often rising in $1000 and $500 bids. It reached the reserve price of $730,000 and crept up to $738,500, where it sold.
“I think it is a fair and reasonable result,” Chen said, adding that her recent sales a little closer to the city in Bundoora, Lalor and Thomastown had been more popular.
“A lot of people still want a full block of land, more close to the city.”
Mernda’s median house price is $720,000, up 3.8 per cent in the year to September. The address last traded for $225,000 in 2017 when records show it was vacant land.
Most Viewed in Property
Loading
