Property punters intent on purchasing in inner Melbourne upped the pressure on vendors at weekend auctions.

Would-be buyers were quite relaxed about allowing some houses and apartments within 10 kilometres of the CBD to pass in on a vendor bid, opening the way for a negotiated sale. At the same time, real estate agents warned that spring-time sellers who set “silly reserves” were being left out in the cold.

One tell-tale sign of a market that is experiencing a change in sentiment is when buyers have an opportunity to buy something they covet but opt to play a long game. By waiting for a property to pass in at auction and then negotiating its purchase, buyers think they can strike a better deal.

This happened at a good proportion of auctions in the inner suburbs on Saturday.

Although the auction clearance rate on the weekend remained upbeat at 76 per cent, the best results for sellers are occurring in the affordable outer suburbs. In higher-priced areas closer to the CBD, the market is more balanced and buyers are exercising greater market power, certainly compared to their power position in this year’s autumn market, which unequivocally favoured sellers.

One Kew family home with fabulous eagle-eye views of the city skyline from Studley Park surprised the market on Saturday when it snared just one genuine bid of $4 million.

Kay & Burton auctioneer Scott Patterson then upped the ante for the sale of 6 Berkeley Court, an architect’s own home on three levels, by placing a $4.6 million vendor bid. With no further nibbles, a second vendor bid of $4.65 million was posted and the property was passed in.

The home subsequently sold to a family who did not bid at the auction. Mr Patterson said on Sunday the price paid was within the quoted range of $4.6 million to $5 million.

The same pattern of activity was on show at Nelson Alexander’s auction of an upscale family home at 20 Bowen Crescent, Carlton North.

Selling agent James Pilliner said more than 80 people attended the sale of the property, which had a quote range of $3 million to $3.25 million.

The auction was a two-horse race, with the property passed in to a genuine bidder at $3.25 million. After negotiations, it sold for a touch more at $3.26 million.

Mr Pilliner said buyer levels were down.

“We are often seeing auctions with one or two bidders at them these days, so it is not quite as buoyant as at the start of the year when we were consistently having three and four bidder auctions,” he said. “There are still runaways out there; they are just a lot less common now.”

Andrew Keleher, from Jellis Craig, said one sign of a market change was when buyers had the opportunity to purchase but opted to wait for properties to pass in and then begin negotiations.

“The optimistic vendors with the silly reserves are getting left behind,” he said. “The bidders give up on these properties or there is no interest, so owners have to be on the money and get their pricing right.”

Mr Keleher added that vendors who prepared well and took the time to present their properties favourably were being rewarded in the current market.

Downsizers were active buyers in many areas at the weekend.

Hodges’ agent Amanda Jones said a villa unit at 1/5-7 Red Bluff Street, Sandringham, was heavily sought by Baby Boomers because it was on one level and within walking distance of Sandringham and Block Rock villages and the beach.

She said the two-bedroom property sold to a mature buyer for $1.12 million, which was $180,000 over the reserve. Five bidders competed.

“We opened up with a vendor bid just to get things moving and we moved pretty quickly up from $860,000 to about $970,000,” Ms Jones said. “The buyers who came with budgets of $950,000 or up to the high-$900,000s got knocked out quickly, and they were the buyers aged about 30.”

The professional buying firms, Advantage Property Consulting and Property Mavens, both said sub-$1.5 million homes were tending to sell for prices marginally above reserve.

Melbourne’s robust clearance rate of 76 per cent at the weekend was higher than the 73.1 per cent recorded over the previous weekend. However, it remained below the 79.5 per cent reported on the same weekend last year.

Domain Group chief economist Andrew Wilson said the weekend’s higher clearance rate was recorded despite a big increase in auction numbers. Some 1066 homes were listed to go under the hammer compared to the previous weekend’s 923 properties.

Dr Wilson said Melbourne’s outer suburbs were continuing to charge ahead in the early spring market, producing strong results for sellers.

At the weekend, the northern suburbs were the top performer with an 83.7 per cent regional clearance rate. This region was followed by the north-east with 82.6 per cent, the west with 80.4 per cent from 138 auctions, the south-east with 80 per cent, the inner-south with 77.2 per cent and the inner-city with 74.4 per cent. The outer-east was sharply lower this weekend at 69.1 per cent and the inner-east was an underperformer with the lowest clearance rate (67.6 per cent) of any Melbourne precinct.

Mr Keleher, a Doncaster-based agent, said it was important that vendors strived to make their properties stand out from the crowd.

“It’s a tougher market,” he said. “I think every agent would accept that there are fewer buyers around.”