The three-bedroom home at was guided at $1.1 million,which was described as “an affordable townhouse bracket” in the listing. The property drew a crowd of about 50 and a dozen registered buyers on the first proper auction weekend in 2023.
The successful buyer Brian Baker was among a packed crowd for the Lewisham auction.Rhett Wyman
It was one of 337 homes scheduled to go under the hammer in Sydney on Saturday. By evening,Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 68.4 per cent from 215 reported results,while 38 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
Bidding was quick to start and bang-on the price guide. It was just as quick to rise as dozens of bids were placed from seven buyers who participated in the auction. The hammer was close to falling a number of times before new bidders entered the contest.
At $1,426,000 one bidder,who had been close to winning a few times,shouted out to the auctioneer in frustration;“Bang the hammer,mate!”
He went on to be the successful buyer,along with his partner,after placing a final $4,000 bid,which took the sale price to $1.44 million. The reserve was $1.2 million.
BresicWhitney chief executive and auctioneer Thomas McGlynn called for more bids a number of times.Rhett Wyman
“We went slightly over our budget,but we won’t look back,” said Brian Baker. “Our limit was $1.4 million,but we were hoping for $1.3 million. But in 10 years we won’t care about the $140,000 more.”
Despite that,Baker still believes they got good value:“A year ago this would have been $100,000 more.”
BresicWhitney Inner West’s Nick Playfair said the property attracted a good cross-section of buyers.
“Stock levels are still low,and I think properties that tick a lot of boxes are still few and far between,” Playfair said. “We were fortunate that there wasn’t that much competition,so a lot of the market came to us.”
The three-bedroom townhouse had been renovated since it last traded.Rhett Wyman
The home last traded for $649,000 in May 2013,records show,and had been renovated since.
In nearby St Peters,investors bought a Victorian terrace at for $1.42 million. Eight buyers registered to bid on the two-bedroom home,but only three participated.
It was enough to get the ball rolling. The investor started the auction right on the guide of $1.25 million,and bidding mostly went up in $10,000 increments.
Adrian William’s Namir Mikha said it was a strong result for the size of the property,but declined to reveal the reserve.
“It is a pretty amazing outcome for a two-bedroom home on 101 square metres. It was quite positive for the owner and the street,” Mikha said.
While about 200 groups had inspected the property,only a small portion of those had finance ready,he added.
The terrace last traded for $178,000 in 1995,records show,the price growing almost eight times.
In Prospect,first home buyers purchased a five-bedroom house at for $1.39 million.
The 552-square-metre block was marketed without a price guide because the agents were unsure of the property’s value so early in the year,said Alex Pattaro,Ray White NSW chief auctioneer.
But that did not stop 20 buyers,mostly locals,from registering to bid.
The auction kicked off with an offer of $1.1 million and there was strong,competitive bidding from seven of the buyers. The reserve was $1.3 million.
Pattaro said there was a sense that interest rate hikes and falling prices were coming to an end.
“The biggest declines have passed already. People want to transact. The end of the downturn is in sight,” he said.
The result was well above Prospect’s median house price of $900,000 — which jumped 25 per cent last year — and the $330,000 which records show it last traded for in 2007.
First-home buyers were also the successful bidders at a Bellevue Hill auction for a ground floor art deco unit at
The home had an initial guide of $1 million,which was revised up to $1.1 million.
The bidding started at the revised guide,and seven of the 12 registered bidders pushed the sale price to $1,355,000. It sold to first home buyers who were renting in the area. The reserve was $1.15 million.
PPD Real Estate’s Doreen Wilson said it was a unique property that appealed to all different buyers,including three who had seen the place for the first time that morning.
“It was a huge result,to be honest. There hasn’t been much quality stock around…and that’s buoying prices.”
Wilson sold the property with James Agostini of Agostini Property.
The home last sold for $309,000 in 1997,records show. Bellevue Hill’s median unit price grew 7.8 per cent to $1.65 million in the year to December.