Jockey Brad Rawiller sells home near Flemington Racecourse for a steal

Jonathan Chancellor
Oct 22, 2017, updated Oct 22, 2017

The jockey has lived across from Flemington Racecourse for much of his career.

Jockey Brad Rawiller’s trackside Ascot Vale townhouse was among the Melbourne weekend offerings that just got across the line.

Rawiller and his wife Carolyn secured $980,000 post-auction for their three-bedroom riverside townhouse located just across the road from the Flemington Racecourse.

It was sold by the upsizing couple shortly after being passed in at $970,000, having been their home for 15 years.

Rawiller was at Caulfield on Saturday where he rode Burning Front into second place in the Moonga Stakes.

55 Fisher Parade, Ascot Vale, VIC. Photo: Rombotis Real Estate

Next weekend Melbourne gets its traditional spike in pre-Derby Day/ Melbourne Cup Day ‘Super Saturday’ listings.

There are around 1700 homes set to go under the hammer, which will be an all-time record for a Melbourne Saturday.

Saturday will present buyers with the biggest choice of homes since the pre-Easter 2016 Super Saturday when 1598 homes went under the hammer.

With more than 1000 homes up for auction next weekend, Sydney will have its second-biggest weekend of the year.

“The market will be well and truly tested next weekend,” Domain chief economist Dr Andrew Wilson said.

A total of $500 million worth of property was reported sold across Melbourne over the weekend, with Sydney buyers wagering around $300 million on their property outlays.

The national preliminary auction clearance rate sat below 70 per cent, according to CoreLogic.

The combined capital cities returned a preliminary auction clearance rate of 69.4 per cent this weekend.

The trend towards softer auction market conditions has been led by the Sydney market, CoreLogic auction analyst Kevin Brogan said.

Auction volumes were similar week-on-week, with 2471 properties taken to auction, compared to 2525 last week.

This time last year a clearance rate of 78.1 per cent was recorded.

Melbourne has the priciest weekend sale across the nation when a Parkville terrace fetched $5.6 million.

It was the grand two-storey home of architect Roger Wood, the co-founder of Wood Marsh, and his wife Shelley Lasica.

The 108 Park Drive property, an 1880s charmer had a $3.8 million reserve with Nelson Alexander Carlton North agent Peter Stephens who told the Herald Sun four bidders pursued the three-bedroom house.

The couple paid $965,000 in 2002 before the renovation which included putting in a 12 metre-long wine cellar.

108 Park Drive, Parkville, VIC. Photo: Nelson Alexander

Melbourne’s 73.3 per cent success rate across 1030 results remained the mainland’s strongest market.

There were 1224 properties taken to auction across the city, up from 1223 last week when the final clearance rate was recorded at 73.2 per cent.

Over the same week last year, 1377 auctions were held and a clearance rate of 80.6 per cent was recorded.

Sydney was host to 806 auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 68.8 per cent, up from 63.3 per cent last week across 928 auctions.

One year ago, 897 auctions were held across Sydney and 82.6 per cent were successful.

The highest sale came from the Sutherland Shire when a $5.02 million Burraneer Bay waterfront property was sold.

It was a three-bedroom home at 10 Wren Place.

Highlands Property Cronulla selling agent David Highland said there had been 80 inspections over the four-week marketing campaign with four contracts issued.

10 Wren Place, Burraneer, NSW. Photo: Highland Property Agents

Canberra is closing in on Sydney’s spot as the typically second strongest market.

Across Canberra, 72 homes were taken to auction this weekend. Preliminary results show a clearance rate of 68.3 per cent, down from 72.2 per cent the previous week.

Canberra prices ranged between $478,000 at Bonner and $1.399 million in Turner.

The $478,000 sale was a three-bedroom townhouse in the Motown complex at 15/29 Muriel Stewart Cct.

The 1/12 Gould Street, Turner triplex four-bedroom townhouse offering had sold at $1 million in 2008.

The preliminary clearance rate in Brisbane this week rose to 51.5 per cent, from 46.1 per cent last week. Auction volumes were unchanged week-on-week with 171 homes taken to auction.

Brisbane’s outskirts had the cheapest house sale when a three-bedroom at Woodridge in Logan City was sold for $225,000.

The 9 Claverton Street offering had sold in 2014 at $229,000.

In Adelaide, a 66.1 per cent preliminary result was recorded this week across 147 auctions. Last week, 93 Adelaide auctions returned a clearance rate of 65.9 per cent for the city, while at the same time last year, 100 homes were taken to auction, with 71.3 per cent recording a successful result.

Adelaide sales included a sandstone and brick home that fetched $1.146 million at Rose Park.

Jonathan Chancellor is editor at large at Property Observer