The top end is another country. In some places, it’s another planet.
$722/sq ft in Toorak? Would you like a Brooklyn Bridge with that?
But it happened.
10 Irving Road sold for $3,575,000 ? and it’s on the wrong side of the street.
When this year left harbour, no-one would have expected to see even $600/sq ft.
Hitch a ride down the road to Armadale. Two land-value sales:
- 15 Adelaide Street, $370/sq ft.
- 60 Adelaide Street (wrong side again), $345/sq ft.
(All of which makes a purchase we made not long ago in Toorak ? $300/ft ? look remarkably sound.)
Why is this so? Why the stratospheric numbers?
Lack of choice. This week, for example, with some exceptions in Bayside, there’s nowhere you would want to call home up for auction at the top end.
Off-market? Yes. But at prices intended to make you reel and that we are not advising people to pay. At the top end, fear has left the field and the greed is rampant.
Step down a rung and there’s a little more sense:
- 4 Armadale Street, Armadale – a 5-bedroom renovated Victorian with a pool on around 6,000 sq ft sold for around where it should have: $2,370,000
- 670 Orrong Road was rightly rejected. Passed in at $2,600,000 on a vendor bid with a reserve of $2,750,000. What they don?t tell you in the results is that it was sold only 12 months ago for just over $2,000,000. Get real, people.
And then there’s Albert Park. Cinderella looking for a lift home from the ball only four months ago, now even a 4-room weatherboard at 28 Brooke Street sells for $1,330,000. Bring out the fairy dust.
State of the investment world? Changes with the wind (and we’ve had a bit of that lately). Few investors to be found toward the top of the ladder, more active below $1 million where there’s now a fair choice in units.
There. First week in September and we haven’t mentioned footy. How disciplined is that?
David Morrell
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Bayside: $1 million +
Damian is still elsewhere. Here’s another taste of what he is missing:
Bentleigh
- 35A Loranne Street $1,010,000, sold prior to auction
- 19A St James Avenue. Private sale. $1,180,000
Brighton
- 11 Butler Street sold for $1,665,000
- 7 Cochrane Street sold for $1,300,000
- 186 Cochrane Street passed in, later offer of $1,050,000
- 1 Anne Crescent passed in on a vendor bid of $1,750,000, reserve is $1,870,000
- 125 Cochrane Street passed in on a vendor bid of $1,750,000, reserve is undisclosed
- 8 Higinbotham Street passed in on a vendor bid of $1,700,000, reserve is $1,790,000
Brighton East
- 27 Comer Street sold for $1,270,000
- 3 Milroy Street passed in, later offer of $1,100,000, reserve is $1,200,000
Elwood
- 15 Selwyn Avenue passed in on a vendor bid of $1,600,000, reserve is $1,695,000 – later sold, price undisclosed
- 109 Ruskin Street sold prior to auction for $1,800,000
Sandringham
- 9 Codrington Street passed in on a vendor bid of $1,470,000, reserve is $1,550,000
M&K in the news:
Rumours of rate rise do nothing to dampen demand – The Age – Slightly further east, buyers’ advocate David Morrell saw strong demand at the auction of a large, modern, double-storey house at 52 Lansdowne Road…
Auction rate off at a run – The Australian Financial Review – The traditional spring auction season is off to a strong start, but agents say supply constraints are curtailing the Sydney and Melbourne markets (subscription required).
Editorial
It is time to end some of the great uncertainties in real estate. There’s a simple way to end underquoting and over-quoting. More here.
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