Melbourne buyers push $101k past published auction reserve

Melbourne agents are already testing Victoria’s looming reserve disclosure rules, which become compulsory for auctions and fixed-date sales from October 16. Melbourne buyers have pushed a home $101,000 beyond its published reserve in an early test of Victoria’s looming auction rules. Five active bidders fought for the Gladstone Park house despite knowing the seller’s $700,000 bottom line, eventually driving the price to $801,000. Across Melbourne, preliminary results showed a 53.1 per cent clearance rate from 371 reported results, with 197 properties sold, 55 passed in and 119 withdrawn. RELATED: Rate rise may cut Vic budgets, not bidders ‘Absolute steal’: Block’s $1.1m deal revealed ‘Massive alarm bell’: Vic’s housing crisis just got worse Most of Victoria’s new property price transparency laws started on October 1, but compulsory reserve disclosure applies to auctions and fixed-date sales held from October 16. For those sales, the reserve must be published at least seven days beforehand as a single dollar figure, with advertising and marketing updated to show it. The $700,000 reserve at 25 The Circuit, Gladstone Park, was therefore published voluntarily ahead of the compulsory ch...