Ganges said though only four parties bid,eight interested buyers were present for the auction and were mostly looking to purchase their first home.

“The majority of people here were first-time buyers with mum and dad standing by their side or people comforting them and giving them a bit of moral support,” he said. “A first-time buyer was the underbidder.”

It was one of 996 auctions scheduled in Melbourne on Saturday. By evening,Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 70.7 per cent from 776 reported results,while 79 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

Earlier in Abbotsford,a three-bedroom townhouse sold in another competitive auction for $1,412,000.

The home at158 Gipps Street attracted five bidders and had been popular for its spacious floor plan,BigginScott auctioneer and listing agent Edward Hobbs said.

“It was a late ’90s townhouse with a huge living area as you walked in,” he said. “All downstairs is living space;it has a good-sized north-facing courtyard as well.

“It had a really great feel to it.”

Bidding for the home opened at $1.15 million,Hobbs said,and the price went up in mostly $10,000 increments.

The successful bidders were active through the entire auction,he said.

“They knocked off each group as they came through,” Hobbs said. “They were local buyers from the same complex.”

Hobbs would not disclose a reserve price,but the sale was $112,000 more than the top of the quoted range of $1.2 million to $1.3 million.

In Preston,a quirky property sold for $1,335,000 after being passed in at auction to an out-of-town buyer seeking a city home.

The eclectic two-bedroom house at42 Goodwin Street is on a quiet no-through road across from a popular park,with a garden and a spacious attic with a view of the city.

Dozens of neighbours and locals came to watch the auction on Saturday morning,while the sound of children and dogs playing in the park hummed in the background.

The auction opened on a vendor bid of $1.2 million,below the quoted price guide of $1.26 million to $1.36 million.

Two parties traded $10,000 bids until the price reached $1.3 million,when bidding slowed to $1000 increments. The successful buyer placed a knock-out $5000 bid to bring the price to $1,308,000,but it was not enough to secure a sale.

Auctioneer Mathew Marotta then made a vendor bid of $1,325,000,at which the 502-square-metre block was passed in.

Ray White listing agent Ian Dempsey launched into post-auction negotiations with three interested parties and sold the property to the highest bidder,a woman in the market for a home. The result was $10,000 above the vendor bid.

“They were actually coming down from the country and they were really attracted to the greenery,” Dempsey said. “It reminded them of being home and that was a big drawcard for them.”

Dempsey said buyers still had the power to argue for a more favourable price,despite reports of low levels of desirable property listings.

“There’s lots of buyers still in the market,” he said. “It’s just they’ve got a bit more negotiation clout at the moment,and that’s what you[saw] playing out here today.”

Dempsey did not disclose the reserve price.