On the quiet weekend after the Easter break and during the school holidays, several auctions on April 6 delivered handsome results for sellers.

There were just 707 auctions scheduled in Melbourne on the first Saturday in April, with the Domain Group reporting a preliminary auction clearance rate of 63.6 per cent from 475 results.

In Wantirna, a property that looked like it was going to be passed in went on to sell for six figures above the reserve price.

The 2 Heswall Court house (pictured below) started with a low vendor bid of $750,000 and did not seem to be generating much interest, despite the presence of four bidders.

“It was an impeccably presented but smaller house and we only had one pre-auction offer of $820,000,” Barry Plant Boronia auctioneer Mark Hughes said.

“While there were 90 groups at the inspections, the interest was not strong, and we thought it might pass in at the auction.”

But bidding took off after the slow start and went past the $825,000 reserve price to achieve $935,000. A young couple had the winning bid to land their first home, while the sale was an emotional one for the sellers.

“They were in tears because they had lived there for 30 years,” Mr Hughes said.

He noted that the market was “a bit inconsistent with some properties struggling to sell while others were going crazy”.

In Blackburn, three bidders pushed up the price of a property on a busy main road to sell above expectations. The house on 700sq m at 170 Surrey Road (pictured below) had a price range of $1.3-$1.14 million, and fetched $1.51 million.

The 30-minute auction started with a bid below the price range and paused a few times before spirited bidding towards the end led to a strong result, Barry Plant Whitehorse agent Gavin Hoo said.

In Doncaster East, three developers battled for a knockdown and rebuild property at 10 Devon Drive, Doncaster East (pictured below), which changed hands for $1.711 million.

Barry Plant Manningham partner Todd Lucas said.

Mr Lucas also auctioned a six-bedroom house at 41 Cerberus Street, Donvale (pictured below), for $1.35 million, which was the seller’s reserve price.

In the city’s north, 5 Roseberry Avenue, Preston (pictured below), attracted seven bidders who drove the price up to $1.44 million.

The result was $55,000 above the $1.385 million when the property was called on the market.

Meanwhile, in Niddrie, 34 Jackson Street (pictured above), a four-bedroom house with a pool, sold for $1.55 million, or $50,000 above expectations.

Sellers reap rewards from multi-bidder contests