Australia?s love of property continues. The pundits’ predictions of the market cooling in light of last week’s sharemarket turbulence was a non-event. If anything, there’s an even greater appetite for property. The market is still hungry.
In some cases there were queues at open-for-inspections.
The top sale of 14 Maple Grove, Toorak, at $9,120,000 against an expectation of $8 million – with four bidders – shows again that the top end is yet to see its limit. This property was sold only two years ago for $5.5 million.
10 Acland Street, South Yarra (on top of South Yarra Hill), a three bedroom townhouse in a group of three designed by Sir Roy Grounds; sold for $3.1 million against a reserve of $2.8 million – and still needs considerable renovation.
2 Myamyn Street, Armadale, sold for $2.3 million on a $1.7-1.9 million quote range.
Ground floor apartments with gardens saw great competition. A property in Milton Parade, Glen Iris sold for $468,500 against a reserve of $400,000. 2/64 Cawkwell Street, Malvern, a ground-floor 2-bedroom apartment with garden, sold for $447,000.
Investors were also very much in evidence. One example: a 2-bedroom apartment at 19 Peel Street, Prahran sold for $541,000 against a reserve of $460,000. There were seven bidders, five of whom would have been investors.
Two interesting recent sales in Upton Road, Windsor. A fully renovated 2-bedroom brick Victorian sold four weeks ago for $794,000. On Saturday, two doors down at 74 Upton Road, a similar house, unrenovated, sold for $720,000.
There are still a large number of off-market sales taking place. Even with recent events, little or no slackening has occurred.