Remarkable bidding from six groups pushed a 1990-built Canterbury house to sell $420,000 above the reserve price.
About 50 bids were placed before the four-bedroom house at 53 Alexandra Avenue fetched $3.17 million for its vendors.
The buyer plans to move into the property before ultimately developing, Marshall White Boroondara agent Kathy Malcolm said.
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Ms Malcolm said there had been a few nerves in the office ahead of the virtual auction, but the decision to conduct the online sale had paid off handsomely.
Elsewhere, Cabbage, broccoli and winter leaves were the healthy icing on the cake for a young couple that secured their new Ascot Vale home under the hammer.
Over 100 bids were placed by the pair and three other groups at 159 Kent Street, which sold for $1,332,500.
Vendor Olivia McKirdy said it felt “fantastic” to fetch an $82,500 premium for the well presented three-bedroom house. Ms McKirdy, who is upsizing locally to a home with more space for her three kids, said the property had been “special” to her family.
“My husband and I bought that (house) back in 2007 — it was our first home together and it really meant something to us,” she said.
The interior designer, who styled the home herself, will also leave behind a parting gift for the North Melbourne-based new owners.
“We left nice big veggie patches,” Ms McKirdy said. “The winter crop will be ready for them next month.”
Nelson Alexander Ascot Vale agent Jayson Watts said the competitive auction was “testament to the vendor in the way they presented the property”.
“It also showed there’s activity in the marketplace — the buyers are still there,” Mr Watts added.
Also in the west, a much-loved three-bedroom house at 7 Garden Street, Williamstown, sold for $1.213 million. Local Dallas Henderson said the property had been in her family since at least the early 1900s.
“As far as I’m concerned it’s always been in the family,” Ms Henderson said. “It was the house I never knocked on the door, I always walked in and helped myself to a cup of tea. It’s always been our second home.”
Compton Green Williamstown director Adrian Butera said nine bidders vied for the keys to the home, just a moment’s walk from Williamstown beach. A local family with long-term plans to downsize to the property placed the final bid.
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