Rick Springfield's teen home sold at weekend auction

The Melbourne house where 1980s singing actor heart-throb Rick Springfield spent a few formative years (above) sold at weekend auction for $1.13 million.

After competition between four bidders, Springfield’s Parkdale teenage years' home was secured by a young couple who saw the classic clinker brick home for the first time on auction morning.

Buyers Wei Gu and his wife Jiegiong Zhan also only heard the Sydney-born rocker’s No. 1 hit Jessie's Girl for the first time when it was played prior to the auction.

The Hodges Mentone agent Mark Eddy said it was a great result.

"Rick and his brother Michael will be pleased that their mother’s home of many years has sold,” Eddy told the Herald Sun.

Domain Group chief economist Andrew Wilson told Domain the upbeat Melbourne auction market had passed another test, but a record super Saturday of auctions loomed next weekend, further testing the depth of buyer support. 

Home sales across the nation ranged from $166,000 to $5.68 million at weekend auctions.

Both sales were in Victoria, with a likely Brighton knockdown selling at $580,000 above reserve (below) at an executor’s auction for $5.68 million. It was a 720 sqm St Ninians Road offering.

The cheapest was a one bedroom unit at Bacchus Marsh (below), 57 kms out of Melbourne, which was sold for $166,000.

It last sold at $101,000 in 2006, reflecting 4.7 percent annual growth for the Grant Street townhouse which was marketed as having an expected rental return of $190 to $210 per week.

A prime parkside home in Sydney's Chatswood (below) fetched $4,955,000, the second dearest result at auctions across Australia over the weekend.

Located at 47 Stanley Street, the property was marketed as "an ideal combination of prime positioning and powerful potential."

The solid five bedroom Federation home on a 925 sq m block was knocked down to an local Chinese owner occupier at about 15 per cent above its reserve.

The combined capital city weekend clearance rate remains in the high 70s, despite mid-February auction volumes reaching the highest level so far this year, according to CoreLogic's auction commentator Kevin Brogan.

The larger volume was driven by a substantial rise across the Sydney and Melbourne markets, while there was a small decrease across the smaller capital cities.

The strongest clearance rates, based on preliminary data, were in Sydney and Canberra, where 83 per cent and 81 per cent of auctions returned a successful result.

Canberra’s preliminary auction clearance rate of 81 percent was consistent with last week, and significantly higher than the 61 per cent recorded last year.

A 2011 Philip Leeson-designed Yarralumla house (below) sold for $2.4 million with Peter Blackshaw Manuka agent Mario Sanfrancesco signing up seven registered bidders.

The Schlich Street block cost $861,000 in 2008.

Melbourne recorded a strong preliminary clearance rate, with 76 per cent of auctions clearing, just below the 77 per cent national average.

The preliminary combined capital city clearance rate was higher on the weekend than the 71 percent in same period last year.

The 2,280 auctions held was slightly lower as 2,347 auctions were held over the same time last year.

Across Melbourne, the 76 per cent clearance rate was up from 75 per cent last week and also higher than the 74 per cent over the same weekend last year.

Melbourne hosted around 1,100 auctions, around double the 556 held last weekend, and around the same seen one year ago.

This weekend in Melbourne, the number of properties for sale is expected to rise to 1400 with Domain's Dr Andrew Wilson suggesting the listings were big for February when auctions were usually only just starting to build up again.

Of the Melbourne sub-regions, the highest clearance rate was recorded across the North East region, with preliminary results showing 85.5 per cent of the 91 auctions were successful.

Sydney’s preliminary clearance rate this week was 83 per cent across 661 auction results.

There were a total of 844 auctions held across the city. Looking back at the same weekend last year, 800 auctions were held across Sydney and a clearance rate of 76 per cent was recorded.

The North Sydney and Hornsby region hosted the most auctions of any Sydney sub-region this week, with 137 properties taken to auction.

"It's another extraordinary result for Sydney," Domain chief economist Dr Andrew Wilson told Domain.

"Next week it could be even bigger with the number of property listings to rise about 30 per cent to 900."

Brisbane’s preliminary clearance rate was 50 per cent, down from 53 per cent last week.

There were 117 Brisbane auctions this week, compared to 131 last week.

Adelaide recorded a clearance rate of 68 per cent across 86 auctions this week, up from 66 per cent across 91 auctions last weekend.

Perth’s clearance rate of 36 per cent across 41 auctions was up from the previous week's 25 per cent.

Perth's highest sale was $2.1 million when a Tudor-style Mount Pleasant riverfront reserve home (below) sold with views of the Mount Henry Bridge on the Canning River.

It was the same price as its 2011 sale at $2.1 million.