Thornbury auction: Bids increase by $215k in just 90 seconds

1/79 Fyffe St, Thornbury, was inspected by almost 100 buyers groups prior to this weekend’s auction.

A first-home buyer couple gazumped their competition with a bid $50,000 more than a Thornbury villa’s reserve price at an auction on Saturday.

The property’s lightning-fast sale unexpectedly came in at seven figures, instead of six.

McGrath Northcote’s Luke Brizzi said the young purchasers “came in hard and fast” when the two-bedroom home at 1/79 Fyffe St went under the hammer.

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The couple were the second to bid, following an opening $825,000 bid from another buyer.

Mr Brizzi described the $930,000 second bid as a bit of a surprise, as three buyers competed for the villa’s keys.

The renovated residence was listed with a $840,000-$880,000 range but ended up selling for $1.04m,

“Between the $825,000 and the $1.04m point, it was extremely fast – I reckon the time taken to get to the last bid would have been less than 90 seconds,” Mr Brizzi said.

“The auction would have been over in three minutes.”

The kitchen features two-tone cabinetry, a subway tile splashback, Bosch cooktop and oven, and Miele dishwasher.

The one-car garage accesses the courtyard.

He said the buyers were excited and relieved to have secured a home.

“It was really nicely renovated,” he said.

“They said when they came to look at it, that it had a great feel, it wasn’t too big or too small.”

Almost 100 buyer groups inspected the villa during the sales campaign.

The owner, who purchased the residence about three years ago and did the renovations, was all smiles following the auction.

“She was absolutely ecstatic,” Mr Brizzi said, adding the owner was moving as she and her growing family needed a bigger home.

The home is close to cafes, shops, public transport, Merri Creek trails and Bell Primary School.

Mr Brizzi said there was a shortage of homes for sale at the moment, mostly due to the colder winter weather and owners waiting to see what the market would do in coming months.

But he said the Reserve Bank decision to cut Australia’s official cash rate by 0.25 percentage points last week was likely to give homeowners more confidence to list during spring.

Another Saturday auction in Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs saw a Cheltenham two-bedroom apartment with a courtyard sell for $551,000.

The sum was $91,000 above the $460,000 reserve.

The Cheltenham apartment had five bidders try for its keys.

Ray White Bayside Group’s Angela Limanis said five bidders participated in the auction.

“It started off with a bang and we got to the reserve price in literally seconds,” Ms Limanis said.

The new owner is a first-home buyer who had previously been renting in the inner city.

Ms Limanis added that the RBA interest rate cut was causing buyers “to give it everything they’ve got, because they might have to pay more for the same property in the future”.

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