First home buyers beat six others to pay $1m for Richmond terrace

The Age

2 days ago

Seven buyers competed at auction for the right to call Richmond home on Saturday, and the Victorian terrace house sold for $1,007,000 under stiff competition.
The two-bedroom house at 124 Coppin Street had a retro style and featured exposed brick and timber throughout the home. Fletchers selling agent Nick Fletcher listed the terrace with a quoted price range of $890,000 to $950,000.
The property was one of 712 scheduled to go to auction in Melbourne this week. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 75.2 per cent from 545 reported results throughout the week, while 49 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
Fletchers auctioneer Jeremy Desmier began the contest with a vendor bid of $890,000, and he said the reserve was the top of the quoted price range. Seven bidders ducked in and out of the competition, and a late entrant won the day after sticking to $1000 bids.
'The auction was pretty dynamic; we had quite a number of bidders,' Desmier said. 'It took a little bit to get it started, but once we got some momentum, there was certainly some competitive bidding for it.'
Fletcher said most bidders were looking for their first home, and a few were hoping to upgrade from apartments or townhouses. The winning bidders were first home buyers.
Desmier said it had been rare to see so many bidders at auction. 'It's an entry-level price point and a property that's both liveable in the short term but also with enormous potential to add further value,' he said.
In Brighton East, an aged home sold to a builder for $1.98 million.