Stiff competition at entry level

IT was the battle of the first-home buyers for an entry-level Highton house that backs onto McDonald Reserve.

Three couples hoping for a chance to break into the market put their hand up at Saturday’s auction of 13 Roycroft Ave (below).

Eastwood Andrews, Geelong agent Nicole Andrews said it sold for $500,000 to a buyers moving into Geelong from the coast.

She said the three-bedroom, one-bathroom house on a 652sq m block represented affordable buying in Highton.

“I think it was just that area being close to the shops and schools, it’s just a good family location,” Ms Andrews said.

She said the attraction was the buyers could move straight in and make their own touches in down the track.

The L-shaped house comes with an openplan living and dining area, central kitchen, single garage, single carport and large backyard with a gate to the neighbouring reserve.

ST ALBANS PARK

THE chance to upgrade without moving suburbs spurred a St Albans Park family to bid for a spacious house auctioned close to home on Saturday.

Harcourts, North Geelong agent Joe Grgic said the buyers paid $626,000 to secure 2325 Roseview Way, St Albans Park ahead of one other bidder.

The sale sets a new record in the street, where the previous highest price of $568,000 was achieved back in 2017, according to CoreLogic.

Mr Grgic said there were several other keen parties, unable to bid at auction, waiting hopefully in the wings.

But it wasn’t to be as the price rose from an opening bid of $500,000 and sold just past the top end of the asking range.

“(The buyers) love the area, they are just looking for something bigger,” he said.

The massive four-bedroom house on a 928sq m block certainly fits the bill, with three separate living zones and a four-car garage.

LARA

PURCHASING a one-year-old house that had never before sold enabled the buyers of a Lara property to access the first-home owners grant and realise their dreams of entering the market.

The Geelong buyers paid $540,000 for the modern four-bedroom house at 34 Wathaurong Drive (below) days before it was due to be auctioned.

Ray White, Lara agent Matthew WadeTaylor said the house matched all the criteria for the state’s $20,000 first-owners grant.

The money is available for first-home buyers purchasing a house in regional Victoria which is less than five years old, is being sold for the first time and has a value of $750,000 or less.

Mr Wade-Taylor said that combination, and the layout of the Boutique Homes design, made it an attractive buy.

“I have got a couple looking to buy at the moment, they are first-home buyers, and I said to them ‘you have got to go for those newer ones that haven’t sold before’,” Mr Wade-Taylor said.

BELMONT

VENDORS will have to wait a little longer to see a return from a quick on-trend flip of a classic weatherboard house in Belmont. A high number of inspections of 11 Cambra Rd during the campaign didn’t guarantee a buyer for the renovated three-bedroom, two-bathroom house on auction day. A large crowd gathered on Saturday to see Ray White, Highton agent Matthew Constantine pass in the property on a lone vendor bid of $500,000. Fellow agent George Politis is now selling it with an asking price of $595,000. The house last changed hands in January this year for $395,000, according to CoreLogic records, and has since undergone stylish renovation featuring polished hardwood floors, an updated kitchen and two sleek bathrooms.

NORTH GEELONG

IT’S full steam ahead for the new owner of a North Geelong property who turned up at auction armed with subdivision plans.

The Melbourne woman edged out two other bidders, including another developer, to secure 12 Walsgott St (above ) for $443,000.

Fruit Property, Geelong agent David Phillips said access to North Geelong train station and the ring road made the location a magnet for Melbourne buyers.

“The beauty of this particular block was that the house was set to the front and the left of the block so it suits a rear block development,” Mr Phillips said.

The 646sq m block comes with an original two-bedroom weatherboard house.

The flexibility to add value to another compact two-bedroom house on 619sq m of land in neighbouring Bell Park also sparked the imagination of five bidders at earlier auction.

The original house at 26 Malcolm St sold for $420,00, well above the $345,000 to $379,000 asking range.

Harcourts, North Geelong agent Shane King said the new owners planned to extend with a view to possibly moving in down the track.