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Warner’s house, Melb beach box attract big prices

One of the photogenic bathing boxes on Brighton beach bettered the Melbourne bayside suburb’s price record when $295,000 was paid at weekend auction, while Australian cricketer David Warner and wife Candice Falzon sold their Coogee home for $7 million.

While Warner battled the Kiwis in New Zealand, Melbourne buyers set a new record price for one of the historic bathing boxes on the Dendy Street foreshore, south east of Melbourne’s CBD, which stood at $285,000 since late January.

But dig a bit deeper into the ever-shifting sands of Melbourne property and not every price is heading skyward.

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The cheapest weekend Melbourne auction result represented a significant loss for the vendor.

An inner Melbourne studio apartment fetched $170,000, above the $155,000 pre-auction price guidance, but less than the $282,000 sale in 2011.

The Malaysian-based investor vendor had been securing around $288 a week in rental, plus NRAS concessions.

David Warner’s big score

In Sydney, many buyers seemingly weren’t waiting for an auction to make their move, if the most high-profile sale of the weekend was anything to go on.

Australian Test cricket vice-captain Warner and his wife Candice secured a bullish $7 million-plus sale of their South Coogee home (pictured below) three weeks ahead of its intended auction.

The sale was easily above the $6.25 million paid two years ago by the couple, who listed following their $4 million purchase of an oceanfront building block in Maroubra.

Warner’s had a busy time on and off the pitch. The house sale follows the recent birth of the couple’s second daughter Indi Rae, a sister to their 17-month-old Ivy Mae.

David Warner Coogee house David Warner Coogee house David Warner Coogee house

David Warner Coogee house

Melbourne auctions cooling

In an unexpected early 2016 auction results twist, CoreLogic RP Data calculated Melbourne’s auction clearance rate has slipped below Sydney’s for the first time since mid-September last year.

No surprise Sydney topped the nation’s weekend auction prices when $3.63 million was paid in Lindfield on its upper north shore. The 2010 Harvey Little-renovated four-bedroom brick home traded at $3.18 million two years ago, reflecting a handy 6 per cent annual price gain.

A $3.175 million Unley Park, Adelaide, sale also easily exceeded Melbourne’s top sale of $2.625 million in Hawthorn. The 1910 Edwardian Hawthorn home, that last sold in 1988 at $331,000, helped Melbourne’s inner east to the title as the strongest-performing Melbourne sub-region with a formidable 81 per cent clearance rate across 52 auctions.

“There really is bugger all quality stock on offer right now,” Melbourne buyer’s agent Mal James suggested.

Not entirely the case as My Super Nanny childcare entrepreneur Stephanie Wakefield’s Hampton property fetched $1.66 million on Saturday.

Sydney house auction

The fashionably-styled home was listed with initial $1.5 million plus hopes, which were then revised up to $1.6 million plus.

Clearance rates holding up

After a shocking January kick-off, Sydney’s Saturday auction clearance rate remained above 70 per cent for the second successive weekend, suggesting the earlybirds vendors will do fine while stock levels stay low.

Volumes were set to ramp up shortly ahead of the earlier than usual Easter break.

But currently new listings in Sydney were at their lowest level for this time of year since 2012, according to CoreLogic RP Data.

Big differences are emerging across the regions as North Sydney and Hornsby are sitting on a 92 per cent success rate, while the south west secured just 52 per cent over the week to February 14.

CoreLogic RP Data notes Sydney had shown a “remarkable bounce” in clearance rates, recording a 78 per cent preliminary clearance rate over the last week, compared with clearances that were tracking in the high 50 per cent range last December.

The national preliminary auction clearance rate once again surprised on the upside, rising to 72 per cent this week, compared to 70 per cent last week and 74 per cent over the same week one year ago.

The 1330 national auction volumes were higher than last week’s with 916 residential homes taken to auction, however they were still tracking below the 1540 volume recorded over the same week last February.

Jonathan Chancellor is editor at large at Property Observer

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