31st August 2020: Melbourne auctions: Time-capsule house sells for $1,052,000 on quiet weekend

Brought to you by Domian - Jim Malo.

A quick-thinking agent secured four bidders for a Box Hill South auction after scheduling extra inspections just before the stage-four lockdown kicked in nearly a month ago.

The listing for 1 Douglas Avenue had just gone live before the hard lockdown was announced, and Fletchers listing agent Ian van Eijk said it might have helped him clinch the sale on Saturday.

"Finger on the pulse is what you have to do at the moment because everything is changing so rapidly," he said. "As soon as we got word about the lockdown and what it would be like we started to get everyone back through so most buyers saw it twice.

"The board had no auction time or date on it in case we had to lock down."

It was one of just 89 auctions scheduled in Melbourne on Saturday. On the last weekend of August 2019, there were 701 auctions.

By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 38.7 per cent from 30 reported results, while 45 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

Bidding for the mostly original three-bedroom home began at $900,000, below the price guide of $940,000 to $990,000.

The four participating buyers traded $10,000 bids until the home was announced on the market at $980,000, then kept up the pace.

It sold for $1,052,000 after about three dozen bids, which was $82,000 more than the $970,000 reserve.

Mr van Eijk said the home was like a time capsule, and the buyer will likely move in and renovate.

"It has a good floorplan and it's walking distance to the tram and college," he said.