11A & 11B Macfarlan St, South Yarra, smashed its reserve to sell for $2.451 million.

An unrenovated post-war duplex has skyrocketed almost half a million dollars past reserve at a runaway South Yarra auction.

The red brick property at 11A & 11B Macfarlan St surpassed its vendor’s bottom line by a whopping $456,000 to achieve $2.451 million.

Hocking Stuart South Yarra director Nick Gatacre said the building — featuring three-bedroom apartments on both its floors — was on the market from its first bid of $2.05 million.

Three bidders chimed in from there.

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Inside one of the duplex’s dated post-war apartments.

Three bidders contested the hot auction.

Mr Gatacre said the buyer outlasted two Australian expat businessmen bidding from England via proxies.

She planned to renovate and move into the upstairs apartment, and rent out the downstairs one.

“It was a flexible proposition — you could knock it down, convert it into a house, or land bank and rent out the two apartments,” he said.

“Wealthy families were also looking to buy their kids properties, so they’d get one each.”

The buyer plans to renovate one of the apartments and rent out the other.

The duplex offered six bedrooms all up.

The property was also ideally positioned 100m from the “Paris end of Toorak Rd”.

“(That’s) where the better wine bars and restaurants and shops are — it’s where you want to be if you’re buying in South Yarra,” Mr Gatacre said.

The agent said his office hadn’t passed in a single property since May’s federal election — the longest successful selling streak of his career

He and his team typically ran four auctions per weekend.

He said the death of Labor’s proposed negative gearing changes with the Liberal Party’s election win, several interest rate cuts, and a lack of available housing stock had contributed to the market resurgence.

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The outdoor entertaining space.

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