Source : the age
An iconic sandstone property on the Bay Run is still available after passing in on a bid of $3.71 million at auction on Saturday.
The freestanding three-bedroom, tri-level Drummoyne property at 121 Henley Marine Drive had been reimagined and transformed from an original one-bedder. The interiors make a feature of the sandstone walls and include a glamorous kitchen with illuminated splashback.
The property was one of 985 scheduled to go to auction in Sydney last week. By Saturday evening, Domain recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 48 per cent from 564 reported results throughout the week, while 208 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
Two parties registered on the flash Drummoyne home with water views and a guide of $3.7 million.
Bidding opened at $3.5 million. The second party did not make an offer. The next move was a vendor bid of $3.7 million. An additional $10,000 was added by the highest bidder, and the property was passed in. The reserve had been $3.9 million.
There is no legal requirement for a vendor’s reserve to be in line with their property’s price guide.
“We had a lot of people come through because it’s probably the smallest home you can buy on the Bay Run,” selling agent Christian Leung from Ray White Concord | Five Dock said.
“They have done an amazing job because they left the three walls and then … rebuilt everything. So it’s been beautifully reimagined.
“Whether it sells today or whether it sells in the next two weeks, we’re pretty confident it’ll sell.”
Leung said they were in negotiations to get an increased bid. The home’s price guide online has now been updated to $3.75 million to $3.9 million.
The address last traded for $2.28 million in 2021, records show.
In Marsfield, a three-bedroom redbrick house at 5 Winston Street guided at $1,985,000 drew four registrations at auction.
Two wanted to knock the family home down and build a duplex, while the other two wanted to live in the structure as it is.
Two parties competed for the property whose block had “a good fall to the street”.
Bidding opened at $1.8 million and rose in $50,000 and $25,000 increments until $2.1 million, where it met the reserve. The two competing parties continued to bid in $5000, $10,000 and $1000 lots until it sold under the hammer for $2,152,000. The winner will turn it into a duplex.
Selling agent Catherine Murphy from The Agency said, “It was a really hard fought auction. The under bidders were only $1000 behind. They were going to make it their home, so it was quite … a disappointing moment for them.”
Murphy said that, contrary to other commentary, she isn’t finding the market “sluggish”.
“Sydneysiders are always very interested in property and have a keen want and will to buy as well. Even though the conditions probably aren’t as favourable to sellers right now, it presents an excellent opportunity for buyers.”
The vendor is downsizing to a high-rise development for over 55s in Epping.
In Epping a two-bedroom unit at 3/13 Carlingford Road overlooking Boronia Park sold above its $860,000 reserve for $915,000 to a family from Hong Kong.
Five parties registered to bid on the flat with leafy views. One was a first home buyer, none were investors.
Bidding opened at its guide of $840,000 and three participated. Bids quickly climbed in a flurry of increments ranging from $10,000 to $5000, $3000, $2000 and $1000.
“There’s a little bit of apprehension about waiting for Tuesday … we believe that the rates will go up,” selling agent Betty Ockerlander from McGrath Epping said.
“Some people want to double-check. It’s more about double-checking their borrowing capacity next week. They don’t want to go over or spend too much.”
The apartment last traded for $820,000 in 2019, records show.
Chief economist at AMP, Dr Shane Oliver, said Domain’s clearance rate of 48 per cent for Sydney last week was 69 per cent this time last year. “So we’re about just over 20 percentage points below where we were last year,” he said.
“We were looking for the property market to start recovering around the June quarter next year, but I’d have to say the risk is that it could take longer.
“It’s quite possible that you won’t really start to see a decent recovery in the property market until sometime in the second half of next year.
“There’s no sign that the RBA is about to cut rates. A more likely scenario is that they’ll keep raising them, which means that the downswing in the property market continues.”
