A three-bedroom Bentleigh unit passed in at $940,000 at auction on Saturday, $80,000 below reserve. But agents were hopeful it will sell over the weekend.

The home at 2/12 Gilmour Road, in the mid south-east, was listed with a price guide of $950,000 to $1,000,000, has been freshly renovated and landscaped by its investor vendor, said Woodards Carnegie and Bentleigh lead agent and auctioneer Ben Quigley.

“A lot of work has been done to the property in presenting it to the market by the vendors -- they’ve done a great job,” he said. “And bottom-line, being on 341sqm of land, it really represents very good value.”

The property was one of 573 scheduled to go to auction in Melbourne this week.

The auction kicked off with a genuine bid of $930,000 from a single bidder, a professional woman, which Quigley countered with a vendor’s bid of $940,000.

“We passed in to the buyer who offered $930,000, and they went to $960,000 in post-auction negotiations,” he said.

However, with the reserve set at $1,020,000, “that wasn’t going to put a deal together”.

“But there’s been a couple of calls, so hopefully something might eventuate over the weekend,” Quigley added.

There is no legal requirement for a vendor’s reserve to be in line with their property’s price guide.

Women comprised the bulk of interested buyers, with some first-home buyers and downsizers also in the mix, Quigley said.

He thinks buyers are being careful and watching to see further price falls, but cautioned that if they wait too long, they may miss their chance.

“You’ve got to find it, pick it at the right time … because when it bounces, it’ll bounce so quick,” he said. Vendors are being realistic, he added.

“They’re very aware that buyers are going to negotiate, and everyone’s got to have an open mind,” he said.

In St Kilda East, in the inner south-east, a spacious unit sold for $625,000 to a first-home buyer after a rapid-fire auction.

The three-bedroom apartment on 3/233 Alma Road, featuring a lounge room and separate dining room, had a price guide of $550,000 to $600,000 and a reserve price of $600,000.

Woodards Elsternwick real estate agent Skye Jefferys said the auction, which opened with a genuine bid of $550,000 and drew about 30 people, had two bidders initially go head-to-head in increments of $10,000.

“Then a third bidder came in at the last minute at the $590,000 mark, and then the third bidder and the first bidder went head-to-head until it sold to the first bidder – a first-home buyer – for $625,000,” she said.

The vendors were two sisters selling on behalf of their aunty’s estate.

Jefferys said buyers were still interested.

“I think that there’s plenty of people coming out to auctions and yeah, people are bidding,” she said.