Melbourne property prices experienced another month of near zero growth in August, with the market putting in its second weakest performance of the year.

Analyst Residex reported that Melbourne house values rose just 0.33 per cent last month (apartment values fell1.03 per cent).

That was only marginally better than the 0.27 per cent growth in house values recorded in May, when the  market was commonly said to have ‘‘turned’’ after Anzac Day.

Residex chief executive John Edwards said Melbourne’s market peaked in April when the growth rate hit 3.2 per cent in a single month, declining steadily but not uniformly since then.

‘‘[The results] are not saying that the market is dreadful. Melbourne is just quieting; the rate of price growth isdefinitely slowing,’’ Mr Edwards said.

There was a strong level of demand witnessed in yesterday’s auction market as a surge of stock hit the market ahead of next week’s lull for the AFL grand final.

The Real Estate Institute of Victoria said that 72 per cent of the 607 properties up for auction this week were sold.

After tracking down a large number of unreported auction results from last Saturday, the REIV has downgraded last weekend’s clearance rate from 70 per cent  to 67 per cent.

The outcome of 132 auctions from yesterday are still unknown, which may affect this week’s clearance rate as well.

In Footscray, the vendors of 2 Dawson Avenue saw the value of their double fronted weatherboard house rise
$200,000 in just over three years.

The three-bedroom property was bought for $411,000 in May 2007 and sold yesterday through Jas H Stephens for $611,000. It was quoted at $540,000 to $590,000 and declared on the market at $585,000.

A first home buyer beat an investor and two other would-be buyers at the fall of the hammer on  2/460  Middleborough Road in Blackburn. The double-storey, two-bedroom villa unit sold for $485,000 after hitting its reserve at $440,000.

Ray White quoted the property at more than $400,000.

The two-bedroom villa unit at 4/2-4 Simpson Street in Kew, one of a set of five, sold yesterday for $627,500 after being declared on the market at $620,000.

It was quoted at $500,000 to $550,000. Janet Spencer of Buyer Solutions, who was the under-bidder on the property, said a similar but unrenovated unit in the same set sold for $590,500 in August.

In Elwood, a two-way competition developed over 14 Ruskin Street after Hocking Stuart opened the auction of the three-bedroom Edwardian with a vendor bid of $1.05 million.

Declared on the market at $1.17 million, the property sold for $1.2 million after receiving about 25 bids. It was quoted at $1.05 to $1.15 million.

Six bidders fought over 1/42 Union Street in Brighton East, a renovated 1960s villa unit that sold for  $650,000.

Hodges said that two bidders went tit-for-tat at the auction after the property was declared on the market at $600,000. It was quoted at $490,000 to $550,000.

The three-bedroom unit at 1/32 Loller Street in Brighton attracted enough genuine interest to open at $700,000 and rise to $750,000 before passing in.

ResCom Real Estate said a later offer of $765,000 was received but the reserve was $830,000.

In Armadale, the six-bedroom house at 28 Seymour Avenue passed in at $3.25 million after attracting just one
genuine bid, according to buyer’s advocate Michael Ramsay.Marshall White, who quoted the property at $3.5 million-plus, sold the property through after-auction negotiations but the price was undisclosed.

Elsewhere at the top end, the five bedroom house at 23 Bevan Street in Balwyn also sold through after-auction
negotiations for $3.48 million. JPP Buyer Advocates said it attracted only one genuine bid at $3.15 million before passing in.

Jellis Craig had quoted it at $3.3 to $3.6 million.

Meanwhile, the latest update on the Consumer Affairs Victoria inspection operation staged lastweek is that the regulator found only some minor ‘‘technical breaches’’ by agents at the 30 auctions they observed, instead of  the 100 auctions reported by MarketWrap last week. 

‘‘The vast majority of the auctions visited were all conducted in the correct manner,’’ CAV director Dr Claire  Noone said.