Toorak: 7 Teringa Place: Bought for $4,105,000. Bidderman 6 -Wow. John Bongiorno back from holidays and applying THE LOOK as strong as ever.

If the vendor and/or the vendor’s agent get a touch  aggressive concerning the price of a property in this market, the property is more likely to be passed in – and the only way to sell it is to meet the market. Andrew McCann of Ben Mac stills believes there is plenty of demand out there but some vendors have not taken their rose coloured glasses off and he even suggests that some (other) agents may be over promising on prices.

Today in Toorak, South Yarra, Kooyong and Malvern we attended 9 auctions. At 5:30 pm,  the results were seven pass- ins while two, 7 Teringa Place, Toorak (James Redfern Marshall White)  and 16 Belson St Malvern East ( both proxies for land value) sold well.  This ratio is a bit different to the REIV numbers where they report 4 pass- ins from 18 auctions.

Activity over the next week especially at the weekend will give a better idea of where the market is heading for the first half or the year.

The Belson Street auction (Ian McLennan and Danielle Waterton of Benmac) was interesting with 6 bidders making close to 100 bids for an ungraded property  on the Gascoigne Estate. The activity was increased by the presence of what appeared to be a couple of developers. If we fully discount any value for the house  then the land was priced at  approx $2650 psm- about what we would expect for this area.

Similarly Teringa Place could also be viewed as a proxy for land values. It was bought for $4770 psm, not quite as strong as the  $6000 psm achieved on Montrose Court just before Christmas, although both Courts are similarly positioned off major Toorak boulevards and the houses were of a similar vintage.

Of the pass-ins 263 Domain Road South Yarra (Anthony Cantor of Kay and Burton)  could also be viewed as land value. This site is 394 square metres and passed in on vendor bid of$2,000,000 or $5050 psm. What we would expect for the area.

Most results are being reported - except mainly South Yarra and Toorak – the Top End.

One that has been a long time on the market were bought this week. 14 Gillman St Malvern East with Mark Lawson of Jellis Craig was bought for an undisclosed but very solid price of around $2.2 million. Hats off to his patience on that fringe Gasgoine home – we didn’t think he would get that.

So if you are buying let us help you with the numbers – and be patient. Then strike!

Make good decisions