Source : the age
An engaged couple paid $1,825,000 for an Erskineville house at auction the day before their wedding, when the vendors cut their reserve by $25,000 to sell.
The three-bedroom family home at 33 Eve Street had a private courtyard, a loft level bedroom, and skylights.
The property was one of 521 scheduled to go to auction in Sydney last week. By Saturday evening, Domain had recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 53 per cent from 307 reported results throughout the week and 87 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
The volume of homes for sale was low due to the long weekend, the first weekend after the Reserve Bank’s decision to lift interest rates to 4.6 per cent.
Two parties registered, both looking to upsize and both participated. The underbidders were another young couple.
Bidding opened at the home’s guide of $1.7 million and several small rises increased the price to $1.75 million.
Then the highest bidder, a couple to be married the next day, bid against themselves by $75,000. The vendor adjusted their $1.85 million reserve down and the home sold under the hammer for $1,825,000.
There is no legal requirement for a vendor’s reserve to be in line with their property’s price guide.
Ray White’s Shaun Stoker said the buyers had been looking for over three months.
“I’m finding [that] if buyers don’t see value, they’re not acting … Owners have to be aligned with the buyer to get interest.”
Stoker’s colleague Moira Verheijen said the couple had each purchased their first property from her separately before purchasing their first home as a couple on the eve of their wedding.
“It’s very nice when you go on a journey with people over 10 years of your career, it’s … a real privilege.”
The vendors have purchased in Annandale and are upsizing. The property last traded for $1.41 million in 2020, records show.
In Liverpool a three-bedroom house at 271 Memorial Avenue that was purchased in March this year for $1,505,000 sold for $1,325,000.
The property had an existing lease in place and the buyer is keeping the tenants on.
Four parties registered and all four were active. Bidding opened at $1.1 million and jumped to $1.2 million quickly before selling for $25,000 below its $1.35 million reserve for $1,325,000.
Selling agent Michael Sleiman from First National Real Estate Daystar said it is the, “worst market I have experienced in my 30 to 40 years of real estate.”
“This makes the GFC, COVID, Royal Commission, 13 rate rises look like a lovely … sunny day compared to this market.”
Sleiman said the biggest impact has been the “the negative gear and capital gains changes.”
He added that he “felt sorry” for his vendor and that he had even “tried many times to convince him not to sell.”
“But in the end, it was a good result for him because it means he can move on now.”
In Rhodes, a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment with sweeping city skyline views at 2306/7 Rider Boulevard sold for $1,309,000.
Two registered, both interested parties were young professionals and both were active.
Bidding opened at $1.18 million and rose in mostly $10,000 increments until it sold for $1000 above its $1,308,000 reserve.
The initial guided range of $1.3 million to $1.4 million was adjusted down a week prior to auction to $1,231,000 due to a $1.23 million offer received.
Selling agent Rex Sam from Vue Property Estate Agents said, “Even with this recent rate rise, the buyers that I’m working with are still looking to purchase.”
Sam doesn’t think the interest rate has affected family home buyers.
“Good home, good location, presented nicely. They’ll always have demand.”
The vendor is upsizing to a house. The flat last traded for $825,000 in 2013, records show.
Chief economist at AMP Dr Shane Oliver said Domain’s clearance rate of 53 per cent for Sydney is a “soft outcome”.
“You’ve always got to be a little bit cautious in interpreting data on the long weekends … But even allowing for the long weekend, these are still fairly weak results in the numbers [compared to] a year ago,” he said.
Oliver predicts we won’t see rate cuts until the second half of next year.
