Charity beats five first home buyers for $955,000 Footscray townhouse

A Footscray townhouse built in the 1990s and on its own title sold for almost $100,000 over reserve on Saturday, fetching $955,000 under the hammer.

The three-bedroom, one-bathroom brick home at 9 Greer Street ignited a fierce battle among largely first-home buyers, before an older man bidding on behalf of a charity organisation swept in to claim the keys.

He paid just $5000 over the price cap for the Australian Government 5 per cent deposit scheme, beating five young underbidders.

Footscray’s median house price was $915,000 over the 12 months to December, Domain data shows.

“At $955,000 to call this townhouse an entry-level home feels ridiculous to say, but this is arguably what entry level is here now,” selling agent Adam Welling of Compton Green said.

On a 194-square-metre block, the home features solar panels, a modern kitchen and a balcony and was advertised with a price guide of $790,000 to $840,000.

Bidding opened at $790,000 with two of the six active punters initially duelling it out before bowing out, allowing others to muscle in.

A series of $10,000 bids flew “thick and fast” before the increments dropped as low as $3000, with three bidders left after the home was called on the market at $895,000. The reserve was $860,000.

There is no legal requirement for a vendor’s reserve to be in line with their property’s price guide.

It was the deeper pockets of the charity that won. Welling credited the home’s separate title, the long weekend and the city’s roaring entry-level market for the result.

For the underbidders, all young couples and one young family trying to get onto the property ladder, the result was less heartening.

“It’s been really strong quarter in Footscray and there’s a lot of entry-level properties that have supercharged by that 5% Deposit Scheme,” Welling said, although he said high-rise apartments were struggling.

”This home was a hard one to pick price wise, as it’s a 1994 build and fairly unique. It didn’t have a classic period façade, which usually gets the emotions going, but it was a great location and a super practical home.”

Welling said the vendors were ecstatic. “If you had asked him if he’d get $955,000, he would have laughed at you.”

The sale was among 596 auctions scheduled across Melbourne last week. By Saturday evening, Domain recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 59 per cent from 415 reported results, with 61 homes withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold when calculating clearance rates.

In Watsonia, a four-bedroom home that had struggled to sell for months due to its location beside the North East Link tunnel works changed hands after a first-home buyer couple paid $925,000 - just below its $930,000 reserve.

Despite interest from three potential buyers, they were the only punters to raise their hands for 231 Nell Street West, securing it in post-auction negotiations.

Featuring two living areas, a spacious 622-square-metre block and a tightly-held location near coffee shops and Watsonia train station, the home had a guide of $875,000 to $935,000. It was originally listed for sale in December.

Selling agent Daniel Cobern of Jellis Craig said they were the second agency to take over the listing after the first attempt failed, sprucing up the home and changing tactics.

“While it’s so close to those tunnel works that’s ultimately going to be a good thing in the area and there were three people who were prepared to look past that and one bought it,” he said.

“Those works will be finished up in the next year, and then the area will be really transformed.”

Cobern said the buyers nabbed the home for a song, pointing to a three-bedroom house further from the works that sold last week for $946,000.

In Balwyn North, a four-bedroom, three-bathroom home on a 657-square-metre block sold for $2.3 million - bang on reserve - to a young local family.

Marketed with a price guide of $2.29 million to $2.39 million, the home at 50 Hill Road had remained in the same family for about two decades.

Bidding opened at $2.1 million with two upsizers competing. The underbidder was another local family.

Selling agent Cherie Sun of McGrath Box Hill said while the market remained tough, the home’s location in a top school zone helped.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty in the market and I’m generally finding that people are waiting, which makes it quite difficult,” she said.

“But the vendor’s very happy, and it’s allowing her to downsize.”

LJ Hooker head of research and economics Matthew Tiller said Melbourne’s softer-than-average clearance rate likely reflected the long weekend.

He said the affordable end of the market was performing well, fuelled by first-home buyers and investors.

“The top end just seems to be struggling,” he said.

“We have also seen quite a substantial rise in listings from last year and there’s good supply, which is why price growth has been a bit softer.”