Weekend Crowds Down
The Age
Sunday July 14, 1996
TOP PRICE: $517,500. 1 Marine Parade, St Kilda.
LOWEST PRICE: $55,000. 8 Mitcham Close, Mount Evelyn.
School holidays and the seasonal cold spell was blamed at the weekend for a lack of auction activity, especially in higher price ranges.
The number of properties reported - 237 - was less than those reported for the same weekend over the past seven years.
Ninety-six were passed in, 100 sold at auction and 41 before the scheduled date resulting in a weekend clearance rate of 51 per cent.
With properties sold before auction the overall clearance rate was 59 per cent. Agents attributed smaller than usual auction crowds to families either out of town or too busy entertainning children to attend.
``The 35 to 55 age bracket buying the second, third or fourth house is not around at the moment but we've seen a lot of younger buyers," said Mr Paul Castran, of Castran Gilbert.
Among them was the new owner of a vacant block at 281 Canterbury Road, St Kilda West, who paid $150,000 after battling with three other bidders.
Part of a 25-lot subdivision on the site of a motor inn, the same block was sold in December 1993 for $117,000. ``It's a sizzling spot and it shows pretty strong growth, " said Mr Castran.
Another lively auction was at 15 Seddon Street, Seddon, which attracted a crowd of 175 and sold for $140,000, which the selling agency Jas. H. Stephens said was $50,000 more than their estimate.
The crowd gasped with the opening bid of $120,000 and applauded when one of four bidders won the property.
Another notable sale was an historic mid-19th century cottage in Ridge Road, Olinda. Henty Homestead fetched $150,000 before a rain-soaked crowd of about 40.
One of the busiest suburbs was Eltham North, where two substantial homes were sold at auction. The seven-room mudbick house at picturesque 99 Lavender Park Road fetched $357,500 while an 11-room brick veneer house on 0.7 of a hectare at 17 Haldane Road fell under the hammer at $412,500. Toorak did not fare as well. The seven-room brick house at 11 Washington Street was passed in at $805,000 against an undisclosed reserve. Number 214 Kooyong Road, a substantial brick home, fell well short of its $760,000 reserve, reaching only $696,000 at auction.
© 1996 The Age