Source : the age
A family home in Coburg with a published reserve price sold for $1.26 million at auction on Saturday, in a short and sharp bidding competition.
The three-bedroom house at 30 Higinbotham Street had a unique style and cosmetic upgrades, Barry Plant listing agent Caleb Venneri said.
“It was a unique place, and the vendor did some little cosmetic updates to the place which helped with the presentation,” he said.
The home was listed with a reserve of $1.1 million, after Venneri had previously listed it with a quoted price range of $990,000 to $1,085,000.
“We converted it to a reserve price as a response to interest, so people had some clarity,” he said. “It gave [buyers] a bit more confidence to come out and bid and pay for building inspections.”
Four bidders competed. The first bid was $1.11 million, which cleared the reserve. Venneri said the auction lasted about five minutes and the home sold to a young couple.
He said all the bidders were young professional couples planning to start a family, or families with young children.
“Coburg has had a bit of push from buyers who were coming from the Brunswick East area and are getting pushed out this way,” Venneri said.
The auction was one of 760 scheduled for across metropolitan Melbourne on Saturday.
In Fairfield, a large family home attracted seven bidders and a $2.15 million sale at auction.
The four-bedroom house at 197 Arthur Street had an open living and dining area, and a studio and carport at the rear. Belle Property selling agent and auctioneer Scott McElroy listed it with a quoted price range of $1.75 million to $1.85 million.
“I think the strength of the property was it really appealed to young families upsizing from smaller properties,” he said. “Some of the open for inspections looked like a day care centre, there were so many children running around.
“A lot of them were complaining that a lot of the houses around aren’t quite big enough.”
The auction opened with a bid at the top of the range, which was also the reserve price.
McElroy said family homes were in high demand. “There’s a lack of generously proportioned family homes,” he said. “It was a bit of a package that ticks a lot of boxes, in terms of everything being in the right place and the right size.”
He said the home sold to a family.
