Young couple pays $1.83m for architecturally designed Collingwood home

A young couple bought an architecturally designed, Japanese-inspired townhouse in Collingwood under the hammer for $1,830,500 in a competitive auction between four bidders on Saturday.

The three-bedroom home at 9/20 Bedford Street had a price guide of $1.55 million to $1.69 million and a reserve of $1,675,000.

The property was one of 1221 scheduled to go to auction in Melbourne last week.

By Saturday evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 58 per cent from 812 reported results throughout the week, while 133 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

Selling agent Matthew Akritidis from Nelson Alexander Fitzroy said four young professionals contested the Collingwood auction, including a couple who were the ultimate buyers.

“They really valued the design of the home. It was designed by an architect who lived in the property, with unique features like six-metre-high ceilings,” he said.

The location, “on the border of Fitzroy,” is also popular among that demographic, he added.

Bidding opened at $1.5 million and quickly rose to $1.75 million, with only two bidders remaining after it reached $1.79 million.

“The bidders knew that if they didn’t contest the auction, they’d miss out. This property was just one of a kind,” Akritidis said.

Interest in the property’s design also drew a crowd of around 100 people.

Elsewhere, a renovated brick family home in Mulgrave passed in at auction for $980,000 and sold later that day, after private negotiations, for $1.06 million to a neighbour who was riding past the auction on his bike.

The three-bedder at 40 Carson Street had a price guide of $1 million to $1.1 million.

Selling agent Leigh Kelepouris from Ray White Oakleigh said the vendors didn’t have a specific reserve but wanted “something just a little bit over one million.”

The auction had three registered bidders who were active, but the bidding was “slow and lacking.”

“It was ultimately passed in on a live bid of $980,000, but the vendor said it was too low, so we began negotiating with all three bidders, plus another person in the crowd,” as well as the ultimate buyer, who arrived on his bike, said Kelepouris.

The new buyer has purchased the home as an investment property for his family members to live in.

The vendors, who know the new owner, first thought there was a mistake when he decided to make an offer.

“They said, ‘No, he’s our friend from around the corner,’ but he actually wanted to make a genuine bid,” said Kelepouris.

The other interested