A BAYSIDE family has shrugged off concerns about the worsening state of Melbourne's property market to spend a record $215,000 on a Brighton beach box yesterday.

The buyer paid more than $14,300 a square metre for a licence to use one of the exclusive and tightly held boxes on Dendy beach, which is only slightly larger than the average parking space but has no electricity or running water.

Sam Paynter, director of Hodges Real Estate, said the previous record of $205,000 was topped after a fiercely contested auction between two bayside locals.

"In the scheme of things, if you have the money to park in a location like Dendy beach then [spending] $10,000 or $20,000 to break a record doesn't matter because you've got it forever and you'll never lose. Where else can you buy beachfront real estate like that?"

The sale is also notable because it was the first new box added to Dendy beach in about a century, with the Bayside City Council planning to build and sell off a total of six boxes in a move that is expected to generate more than $1 million.

Only local residents are eligible to purchase the leasing rights to Dendy's 83 existing boxes, which remain the property of the local council.

The sale comes in the midst of another lacklustre performance for the Melbourne property market this past week.

The Real Estate Institute of Victoria reports that just 60 per cent of the 937 properties up for auction sold. The figure is expected to fall further as the group chases down 135 unreported auction results. It's the fifth week in a row when the clearance rate has sat at 60 per cent or lower, marking the worst performance for the Melbourne auction market since the global financial crisis in late 2008.

Vendors in the city's outer east were hit particularly hard yesterday, with only half of the 151 houses and units on offer selling.

Industry experts estimate that in a ''well-balanced'' market between 65 and 75 per cent of properties should sell by auction.

The market faces its biggest test of the year next week when 1270 properties are listed for auction.