Historic inner-city townhouse sells for over $1m

The property was one of 573 scheduled for auction in Melbourne this week.

In Fawkner, a three-bedroom house sold for $735,000 to first home buyers, getting over the line in post-auction negotiations.

The recently renovated house, part of a two-dwelling subdivision at 1/22 Emma Street, was advertised with a price guide of $690,000 to $750,000. The auction started with a vendor bid of $700,000.

The auctioneer and agent, Woodards Coburg’s Alex Mauro, said there was just one further bid, at $710,000, before bidding from the 15-person crowd stalled.

“People were just looking at me for a while like I had something on my face,” he said. But once the home was passed in, negotiations with the top bidders went quickly, and the vendors’ $735,000 reserve was met.

Mauro described the buyers as an “excited, giddy” young couple who were currently renting locally in Coburg.

The property, which was fully renovated in the past five years, was the vendors’ family home. However, it was rented out in the past two to three years.

Mauro said he didn’t think the Reserve Bank decision on Tuesday to raise the cash rate had done much to change buyer behaviour this weekend, and may even have coaxed some buyers to secure a home on a fixed rate.

“I’m always of the opinion that you date a mortgage rate, and you marry the home,” he said.