Auction tipping competition properties manage to just get over the line

The Melbourne and Sydney properties features in auction tipping competition Property Tycoon sold under the hammer this weekend, but only just.

For those who want to have a harmless punt, there's now a tipping website, www.propertytycoon.com.au, where punters can guess auction five results in Melbourne and Sydney, with no outlay. It's mostly about testing your market knowledge with a small cash prize as a sweetener.

The auction at 4 Youngman Street, Preston (pictured above), was attended by around 50 people but only three declared their intention to call the property home.

With the exception of the successful bidder, who was very quick to respond to any challenger bids, it was tough for the auctioneer to drag out bids from the other punters.

The auction stalled at $630,000 when he referred the bid to the owner but was instructed to go out and get more money. Bidding commenced again before stopping at $653,000 and more instructions were sought. On this occasion the owner gave him the all clear to announce the property on the market. Unfortunately for the owner this did not entice any more bidding, and the property was knocked down.

In Sydney the two-storey Victorian terrace at 9 Gilpin Street, Camperdown (pictured above), also just fell across the line, selling for $2,000 above the vendor’s reserve.

Three buyers registered their intention to put their hand up at the auction but when the action started only two were prepared to do so. But it only takes two to make an auction, and happily for the vendor the two buyers passed the $1.05 million reserve before bidding stopped at $1,052,000.