A sprawling estate in Mount Eliza on the Mornington Peninsula has smashed its auction reserve price by $1 million.
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When the 2.5 acre property went under the hammer on Saturday afternoon, bidding soared well beyond the $2 million reserve.
The auction was a mortgagee sale, which occurs when a property owner cannot repay their mortgage. Their lender is then allowed to sell the house to recoup the money owing to them.
The property was sold through Milton Brown of LJ Hooker Frankston, who said he was given strict instructions not to advertise the property as a mortgagee sale.
Mr Brown said he believed the property would sell in the realms of $2 million to $2.2 million, which was the advertised price range. The bank conducted a separate valuation and informed him of the reserve on Friday.
Title records show the property last sold for $1.42 million in 2006.
Saturday's auction was competitive, with four bidders in the fray. After an opening bid of $1.7 million, bids only rose in $100,000 increments.
At the $2.2 million mark, two bidders dropped out of the race, as the buyer and underbidder went head to head.
The hammer came down at $3 million, in a result Mr Brown said was very surprising.
A local father bought the property for his adult son, who planned to renovate and move in, Mr Brown said.
Mr Brown said 96 Wooralla Drive was hotly contested because it was rare for such a huge block of land in Mount Eliza, with bay views, to come onto the market.
"You certainly don't get them under mortgagee conditions," he said.
There have been roughly half a dozen sales above $3 million in Mount Eliza this year.
In June, a luxury 1.5 acre estate at Pelican Point sold for $12.4 million. The five-bedroom, seven-bathroom home on 4 Denistoun Avenue was by far the biggest 2017 sale for the suburb.
