An early-week interest rate rise has done little to deter house hunters flocking to auctions but may have slowed property price growth across the city.
Up to 30 people attended the sale of a three-bedroom house at 22 Mickle Crescent Warrnambool on Saturday morning.
Bidding for the property opened at $650,000 and was contested between three parties who placed offers in $20,000, $10,000 and then $5000 increments.
The house sold for $750,000 to a local buyer looking to move in, fetching $50,000 above its reserve price and within its quoted $699,000 to $768,900 range.
Ray White real estate auctioneer Fergus Torpy said the sale was well-contested and has been surprised by attendance numbers.
"There were quite good crowds to each auction and in terms of people going through properties for viewings, it was certainly up on what we anticipated," he said.
"We had four in town today, and three of them sold so there's really good activity out there."
A three-bedroom unit at 6-14 Panorama Avenue Warrnambool failed to sell under the hammer despite the auction attracting about 25 attendees.
Mr Torpy said the single bidder failed to reach an agreement with the seller but both parties were still holding discussions on the sale.
He said the Reserve Bank of Australia's interest rate hike to 1.85 per cent on August 2 seemed to have little effect on Warrnambool's demand as many buyers were looking to be occupiers rather than investors.
"I thought it may have some impact on the interest heading into the weekend, but it didn't seem to adjust anyone's thinking," he said.
"A lot of people are still buying to live in properties, so interest rates slightly increasing or not, they're still in the market."
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About 60 people were present at the auction of a two-bedroom property at 1-24 Caroville Drive Warrnambool.
It sold under the hammer at $440,000 to another local buyer-occupier $2000 above its expected range.
Meanwhile, 35 people attended a two-bedroom unit sale at 5-50 Kelp Street, Warrnambool.
The property sold for $340,000 - matching the figure at the bottom end of its quoted range.
Ray White real estate auctioneer Jason Thwaites said a local investor had made the successful bid and was one of two house-hunters jostling for the property.
Mr Thwaites said the activity of Saturday morning's auctions was similar to recent trends.
"We've been averaging between one and three active bidders at every auction for the last three months," he said.
He said he also thought interest rate rises this year had a small impact on buyer numbers.
"People know that interest rates are coming and traditionally, if you look back 10 or 15 years, interest rates were between 6 to 8 per cent," he said.
"When you're borrowing at 4-and-a-quarter or 4-and-a-half per cent, that's still very competitive and very attractive for both home-owners and buyers."
Though, Mr Thwaites said a limited supply of housing in Warrnambool may have contributed to high auction attendance.
"Warrnambool for the last couple of years has been under supply with residential housing stock, both for rental and for sale," he said.
"That comes off the supply of new land releases which has been going up slower than people would hope."
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