A first home buyer made the winning bid for renovated apartment at which had been guided at $650,000 throughout the campaign.
Bidding was quick to start at $685,000,and climbed rapidly as five first home buyers made offers.
The result was well above the $730,000 reserve price,and the $625,000 that records show it last traded for in December 2020.
The final price would not qualify for a first home buyer stamp duty exemption,,which would lift the eligibility threshold from $650,000 to $800,000.
Such a sale could qualify for a duty concession come July if the cap lifts from $800,000 to $1 million.
Happy buyer Millie (centre) congratulated by friends after the auction.Peter Rae
Successful buyer Millie was not surprised by the strong turnout or result,having missed out on multiple other homes in her one-year property search.
“I’ve been to enough auctions now that I know the price guide for something like this,and the competition for something like this,” the 32-year-old film writer and director said.
“In Sydney you’re never going to get a bargain. There is so much vicious competition to get in at the moment. There’s just nothing on the market,so I’m not surprised that it went for that price or with this many bidders. I was really prepared.”
She was close to missing out on the unit as well,having set herself a maximum budget of $850,000,given concern for further potential rate hikes.
Dozens turned out to watch the one bedroom Newtown unit soar above its $650,000 guide.Peter Rae
“I know that I can afford it and I know it might mean not going on holidays as much,but I’d prefer it. I want to set up a home and to start setting up my financial future.
“The rental market is f-----. Sydney is f-----. It’s so hard to live here and so hard to rent,so hard to buy. Your option is either paying exorbitant amounts of rent or paying off a mortgage.”
Selling agent Astrid Joarder of Ray White Surry Hills had anticipated a strong turnout,but was still surprised by the result.
“I was anticipating it to be busy,but I certainly didn’t expect it to go as well as it did,” Joarder said.
The home last traded for $625,000 in 2020,records show.Peter Rae
Many in the crowd were shocked by the result and some were annoyed that it was guided almost $200,000 below what it sold for,but Joarder said the price guide was based on buyer feedback throughout the campaign.
“We go off the feedback we get throughout the campaign and I made sure to base the price guide on that. People are going to bid where they see value,and they spoke today,” Joarder said,noting the very few homes to choose from were helping buoy prices too.
Newtown’s median unit price sits at $597,500,after falling 8.2 per cent over the year to March,Domain data shows.
The unit was one of 600 homes scheduled for auction in Sydney on Saturday. By evening,Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 77.2 per cent from 412 reported results,while 61 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
In Earlwood,seven buyers – a mix of first timers,investors and a downsizer – registered to bid on a top floor unit at that was guided at $800,000.
Four buyers were active during the auction which started at $850,000 and rose in mostly “cautious and careful” bids.
The two-bedroom unit eventually sold for $1,015,000 to the downsizer. The reserve was $875,000.
Selling agent Adrian Tsavalas of Adrian William said the bank valued the unit at $850,000 and the reserve was set $25,000 above that.
“Buyers stretched themselves in order to secure it today despite hoping to tap out significantly earlier than where it finished,” Tsavalas said. “The low stock levels are contributing to buyers fighting harder to find something.”
“There is a bit of an imbalance between supply and demand in the favour of vendors at the moment,where it wasn’t like that in the second half of last year.”
The home last traded for $749,000 in 2014,records show.
In Stanhope Gardens,nine families,again mostly first home buyers,registered to bid on a four-bedroom house at that was guided between $1.45 million to $1.86 million.
Bidding opened at $1.6 million and offers from five of the buyers pushed the price to $1,803,500. The home sold to a family relocating from Melbourne.
Cooleys auctioneer Michael Garofolo expected strong results would continue through winter due to limited supply.
“All my agents are singing the same tune:that stock is tight … I don’t see the tap turning on overnight,” Garofolo said.
The house sold through Irving Gunawan of First National Hills Direct and last traded for $555,000 in 2008,records show.