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A one-bedroom art deco apartment in Potts Point that could have sold for $900,000 earlier in the week went under the hammer for $922,500 on Saturday.
An older woman who plans to hold it as an investment, and eventually move in, won the keys to the light-filled apartment at 24/20-22 Springfield Avenue, outbidding a first-home buyer who had made an offer of $880,000 a few days earlier.
A sales agent for Ray White Touma Taylor, Renee Cross, said the owners were prepared to sell the property before Saturday for the reserve of $900,000, but the buyer had declined to increase his offer so it went to auction.
Three bidders registered on the day and all took part.
The property had a guide of $880,000. There is no legal requirement for a vendor’s reserve to be in line with their property’s price guide. Records show it last sold in 2010 for $420,000.
Bidding opened at $881,000, with increments of $4000, $5000 and $10,000 before the hammer fell.
Cross, who had initially expected a single bidder, said the first-home buyer’s strategy not to increase his offer ultimately fell flat.
“He could have bought it during the week, but it went to auction and he missed out,” she said.
The third bidder had also tried to buy the apartment on Friday night.
The property was one of 815 scheduled to go to auction in Sydney this week.
In Gymea, a three-bedroom townhouse went under the hammer following a single bid of $1,245,000 – $30,000 less than the reserve.
The fully renovated property at 3/361-363 President Avenue had an initial guide of $1.2 million, which was revised down to $1.1 million following buyer feedback. It had a reserve of $1,275,000.
“The vendors have come down [in price] to get a result and the buyer has come up to meet them,” said Luke Lombardi, a sales agent for Pulse Property Agents.
The successful bidders – the only ones to register – were a young family from Alexandria seeking a sea change and to upsize. The vendors now live in Queensland and plan to buy there.
Lombardi said that while some agents “are not adapting” to current conditions, he cautioned buyers against holding back with the expectation that the market had further to fall.
“We saw it during COVID where buyers sat on the sidelines and missed out. I think we’re at the bottom of the market, and it’s not going to last.”
