A first home buyer couple bought a quirky two-bedroom house in Northcote for $1.08 million on Saturday, negotiating the deal shortly after the property passed in at auction.

They were the only bidders on the two-bedroom house at 102 Arthurton Road, but still had to increase their own bid by $80,000 to secure the keys.

The auction was one of 617 scheduled across Melbourne on Saturday.

It comes as Melbourne house prices show signs of stabilising, falling just 0.5 per cent in the March quarter to a median of $1,023,116, Domain’s latest house price report shows.

In Northcote, where the median dropped 5.9 per cent over the past year to $1.6 million, first home buyers Danica Sladic and John Loncarevic were nervous about making an offer, but kicked off the auction with a $1 million bid.

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But they were the only party to raise their hands, with the rest of the small crowd remaining silent when Love & Co sales agent and auctioneer Eric Brown called for a $10,000 rise.

After taking a “half-time-break” to check with the vendor, Brown returned unsuccessfully to ask for further bids on the home, which had a $1 million to $1.1 million guide, before it was passed in.

However, the property sold just minutes later to Sladic and Loncarevic, who had only inspected the property once previously.