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A fainting bidder and record-breaking deals: Melbourne’s 2024 property market proved anything is in Australia’s auction capital.
Melbourne’s property market has delivered drama and record-breaking moments in 2024, from big-ticket sales and $99k bargains to fainting bidders.
It’s a year that’s featured million-dollar losses and some of the cheapest homes in the state snapped up for prices below what you’d pay for a luxury car.
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ADRIAN PORTELLI
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After a year of flashy cars, big risks, and a staggering auction loss Adrian Portelli’s The Block 2023 offload bought the drama outside the show this year.
The Block serial bidder helped set a new record for most registered bidders at an auction, with over 200 hopefuls eyeing his The Block 2023 property in Hampton East that he sold in April.
In the end only nine ultimately bid.
A $1 opening bid, 200 bidders, and a $1m+ loss — Adrian Portelli’s gamble at 22 Charming St proved television hype doesn’t always match market reality.
The auction began with a $1 bid and ended at $3.245m, totalling in a $1.055m loss for Portelli, who had paid $4.3m for the home at the televised auction in 2023.
The result was more a reflection of the real value of property in the area, selling agent Aaron Hill said.
Although 200 bidders registered for Adrian Portelli’s Charming St auction, it set the stage for one of Melbourne’s most dramatic property losses of 2024.
But the Ray White Sunbury agent said he’d never seen anything like it.
“The buyer is a young couple in their 30s that will be making this their forever home,” he said.
“What the home sold for at The Block auction, the home was never worth that price.”
Adrian Portelli had one last hurrah at The Block auctions in 2024 purchasing every single home. Picture: Channel 9
Later this year, Portelli continued to make headlines, purchasing all five homes on The Block Phillip Island, spending more than $15m.
The Block 2024 winners Maddy and Charlotte – the youngest in the shows history. Picture: Channel 9
Portelli said he wanted to go out with a bang, stating that 2024 would be his last appearance on The Block after three seasons.
TOP TO BOTTOM SALES
Luxury hit new heights in 2024 as a Toorak mansion on Macquarie Rd shattered records with a sale of around $70m.
Marble staircases, a private cinema, and international interest — Macquarie Rd’s sale marked the highest Victorian sale of 2024.
There’s always plenty made about the biggest sales of the year, such as the six-bedroom Maquarie Rd, Toorak mansion fetching circa-$70m.
But what about the cheapest?
A $62,500 fixer-upper in Meringur, in northwest Victoria, came with a goat named Faith and a shed with beds.
Quirky charm in northwest Victoria: Meringur’s $62,500 home, complete with a goat and rustic appeal.
A goat named Faith, a shed with beds, and a $62,500 price tag — Meringur’s fixer-upper redefines budget living in regional Victoria.
PRD Mildura’s Ian Miers sold the property to a buyer who inspected it for the first time a few hours before purchasing.
In Melbourne, studio apartments were selling for as little as $86,000 in Frankston’s once-notorious Ambassador Hotel, which Foster Froling’s Adrian Foster said was now “not a bad place to live”, though comes with CCTV that has a direct feed to the local police station.
From a troubled past to a fresh start: Frankston’s Ambassador Hotel studio apartments offered affordability at just $86,000.
The property has had a previous reputation for hosting drug addicts and ex-convicts, but is believed to have turned a corner.
SPEEDY SALES
Restaurateurs Andrew McConnell and Joanna McGann sold their home within days.
Some homes flew off the market at lightning speed, with restaurateurs Andrew McConnell and Joanna McGann selling their $20m-plus Art Deco mansion in Toorak within days.
Buyers advocate David Morell penned the sale as “faster than a minute in the microwave.”
The Toorak sale brokered by Marshall White’s Marcus Chiminello and Nicole French is understood to have been one of the fastest deals locked in for the high-end suburb this year.
A Geelong home could almost claim the record as one of quickest sales, lasting barely 24 hours before it was snapped up for above its $1.295m asking price.
The four-bedroom house at 33 White Gums Drive, Hamlyn Heights, sold the first day it was on the market.
Jellis Craig Geelong agent Marcus Falconer said the family was almost lying in wait when the four-bedroom home hit the market at 33 White Gum Drive, Hamlyn Heights.
The two-storey, four-bedroom residence has four living areas, a saltwater chlorinated pool and spa in the back yard, but it’s proximity to Kardinia International College was a key priority for the buyers, Mr Falconer said.
“The people had sold (their previous home) and were incredibly keen to get their kids in to a location that they could walk to Kardinia,” he said.
EMOTIONS RUN HIGH
One buyer fainted after realising she had secured the keys to a home.
While seasoned professionals warn to keep emotions in check when it comes to buying and selling real estate, sometimes it’s hard to hold it all in.
It all became too much for a single mother of five who fainted upon realising she had secured her dream home at Fawkner for $827,500, paying $67,000 over the reserve.
Ray White Coburg’s Hamza Ali said the buyer was overwhelmed after ending a 15-month search for a home.
Inside, the family parting with their home after 64 years there were also plenty of tears, but not all vendors emotions are a sense of loss.
Take this Craigieburn couple who inadvertently let all in earshot know how over the moon they were after selling for an unexpected $585,000.
Auctions were full of emotion across Melbourne this year.
The 13 Beechville Place home went under the hammer with a $480,000-$500,000 asking price, and when the hammer came down tens of thousands of dollars higher the owners were left screaming with joy.
But, after realising the blockout blinds on their front bedroom had been left open as the auction commenced, Adam and Jay Skepastianos panicked and went to the next nearest part of the home to the street: the bathroom.
“There was just screaming and shouting in the bathroom, we were chuffed,” Ms Skepastianos said.
YEAR TO REMEMBER FOR FIRST-HOME BUYERS
Real life Melrose Place: First-home buyers frenzy in Oakleigh
It’s fair to say 2024 served up first-home buyers with the biggest choice of properties in their price bracket, largely on the back of an exodus of investors escaping huge land tax bills and other government costs.
Nothing could provide a better example than the auction of the three units in an Oakleigh South development.
The three units sold for a combined total of $1.799m
Unit 1 sold for an impressive $620,000, Unit 2 for $560,000, and Unit 3 fetched $619,000 – a combined total of $1.799m
Ray White Oakleigh’s Leigh Kelepouris said the “atmosphere was electric,” likening the scene to a real life Melrose Place – the iconic 1990s drama series which involved a group of young adults in a stylish apartment complex.
SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY
Despite hopes that the home would be retained, 22 Moreshead Rd, Mount Waverley could be facing the chopping block.
Perhaps one of the most sentimental sales occurred at Mount Waverley, where a family home owned since 1961 was offered on behalf of a 96-year owner Zigfrids Steinbergs.
The mid-century property remained the real deal inside, with features such as an original kitchen complete with a breakfast bar, complimented by ducted heating and wall airconditioning – with a large rear yard and a double-car garage.
The home was kept in pristine condition with authentic features and classic design elements throughout.
It sold for $1.835m.
Before auction, the vendor’s son Hugo Steinbergs said the craftsmanship of the hardwood timber in the home was unmatched.
Developers and renovation enthusiasts alike were drawn to the 822sq m block.
Buxton Mount Waverley’s Peter Serafino said the home was sold to an investor who plans on renting out the property before sadly meeting its fate as a development site.
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