Source : the age
A local family paid $3,312,000 for a Balmain home at an auction that was brought forward from a five-week campaign to 16 days due to unexpected interest.
The modern, freestanding residence on a corner block at 10 Terry Street had retained elements of character charm and was initially guided at $2.8 million until a $3 million offer prompted a lift in the guide to that level.
The property was one of 1272 scheduled auctions in Sydney last week. By Saturday evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 51 per cent from 693 reported results, while 249 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
Six local families, all seeking to move in, registered and four battled it out for the three-bedroom, two-storey Balmain home.
Bidding opened at $2.8 million with mostly $50,000 increments all the way to $3.2 million.
Bids then slowed to $10,000 increments until $3.3 million, when a $5000 bid was followed by a series of $1000 bids, until a final $1000 bid secured the keys for a local family.
It sold for $212,000 above its $3.1 million reserve for $3,312,000. There is no legal requirement for a vendor’s reserve to be in line with their property’s price guide.
Selling agent Jack Parry from BresicWhitney Balmain said at the first weekend there were 63 groups who viewed the property, “which in this market is a bit nuts. I was already on high alert to raise the guide just simply on that basis,” he said.
Parry said, “It feels as though [the market]’s got two speeds, and it’s a little unpredictable around which speed each house will experience when going on the market.”
He added that the clearance rate of around 50 per cent makes sense if half are performing while the other half are pulling back.
The vendor will be upsizing locally. The house last traded for $1.95 million in 2015, records show.
In Queens Park, an original cottage at 17 Isabella Street will be knocked down, the address selling for land value for $2.3 million.
The home was guided at $2 million. Four parties registered and four actively competed for the blank canvas. All were owner-occupiers from in and around the area; one was a builder looking to build for himself.
Bidding opened on a vendor bid of $1.8 million, then $50,000 increments went to $2.1 million. The auction went for half an hour with small bids of $500 and $1000 between two of the buyers until it sold under the hammer for $2.3 million, $200,000 above its $2.1 million reserve.
Selling agent Angus Gorrie from Ray White Eastern Beaches said: “I’m glad we didn’t have the auction last weekend, because we wouldn’t have had four bidders, we would have had two.”
“As sharp as it cooled down in April, it’s starting to turn again,” he said. “Two weeks ago it was really tough … just around real estate in general was just a bit doom and gloom.”
Gorrie added since the end of last week buyers have realised they still need somewhere to live and enquiries have picked up.
The vendor was over 90 years old and “over the moon” with the result. He owned the cottage for 50 years; the past 30 years a house carer managed it.
The buyer is an upsizing couple from an apartment in Sydney. They will do a complete knockdown.
In the Sutherland Shire, a long waterfront block at 216 Prince Charles Parade sold for $3.7 million to a buyer from Cronulla.
The 1500-square-metre block sits directly opposite the beach and has a three-bedroom weatherboard home and a studio in a tree-lined level backyard.
Four parties registered – three were owner-occupiers and one was an investor who did not make an offer.
Bidding opened at its reserve of $2.8 million and two parties competed. Bids climbed in $50,000 and $25,000 increments, going above the $3 million guide before dropping to $5000 and $1000 bids until the property sold for $3.7 million.
McGrath’s Mitch Kenyon said he had two waterfront auctions in the shire and both sold over reserve.
“There’s still a desire for quality properties, and in suburbs that are becoming obviously a lot more attractive to buyers.”
Kenyon said Kurnell is “definitely a hidden gem, like it’s up and coming. I feel like people have figured out now that it’s a beautiful place to live for young families.”
PRD’s chief economist Dr Diaswati Mardiasmo said Domain’s clearance rate of 51 per cent for Sydney shows the market is holding stable.
“I think between the next couple of weeks we’ll probably still see it hold, just while people are waiting for what might happen with the cash rate,” she said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the new Sydney market that we’re seeing … it really has hammered the auction market for investors not being able to bid on established homes if they want negative gearing,” she said.
