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A young family has paid $210,000 above reserve for the keys to a townhouse in Sydney’s south, which sold under the hammer for $1.41 million.
The two-storey, three-bedroom home at 20/42 East Crescent, Hurstville Grove, with a guided range of $1.1 million to $1.2 million, attracted eight registered bidders at auction on Saturday, with only five taking part.
All but one, a first-home buyer, were upsizers from the local area or inner west.
Bidding opened on a vendor bid of $1.1 million, followed by rises of $20,000 and $10,000, taking the price of the home $210,000 above its $1.2 million reserve.
It sold under the hammer for $1.41 million to a young family from Summer Hill.
Selling agent Roger Lahoud of McGrath St George said that “it was a good one”.
He said the auction was slow to start as people were “still resisting in the market, but once it got going, they got into it”.
“What we’re finding is strata properties – so villas, townhouses, apartments – are very hotly contested.”
Lahoud added that higher priced properties were taking longer to sell in the current market. The vendor was an investor from Balmain.
The property was one of 1033 scheduled for auction in Sydney last week. By Saturday evening, Domain Group had recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 51 per cent from 605 reported results, while 226 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
In Manly, a one-bedroom unit at 12/14 Malvern Avenue with a lockup garage and sitting a street back from the beach had two investors fighting over it at auction.
Bidding for the flat, which was guided at $1.15 million, opened at $950,000 and rose in $50,000, $20,000 and $1000 increments as the two registered parties fought for the keys.
When bidding reached $1.25 million, it was announced as on the market.
Then a final three bids of $1000 took the price $3000 above its $1.25 million reserve, where it sold under the hammer for $1,253,000.
Selling agent Eddy Piddington of Ray White Northern Beaches said: “We had a lot of first home buyers through it, but in the end it just came down to two investors.”
He added that “with all these changes the government has made, which is supposed to help first home buyers, a lot of them are actually … sitting on the fence at the moment”.
The unit last traded for $390,000 in 2001, records show.
In Macquarie Park, a three-bedroom ground level flat with an enormous courtyard drew the interest of a buyer with grandchildren.
The 250-square-metre unit at 151/1-15 Fontenoy Road was guided at $1,195,000, and sold under the hammer at its reserve price of $1.23 million.
Just one bidder registered, and so the auction was a back-and-forth negotiation between the bidder and the vendor. Bidding opened at the price guide and increased several times until the reserve was met and the property sold.
Selling agent Catherine Murphy of The Agency Epping said the property may not have had the rental yield to attract investors, as owner occupiers were willing to pay more to live in the area.
“Macquarie Park is really good, like it’s got everything there – Macquarie University, Macquarie Shopping Centre, it’s got the new metro as well. All of these things are within walking distance, so the location is brilliant,” she said.
The flat was purchased originally off-the-plan, and last traded for $310,000 in 1997, records show.
PRD chief economist Dr Diaswati Mardiasmo said Domain’s clearance rate of 51 per cent for Sydney was a reflection of a potential change to the cash rate.
“The RBA is meeting on Tuesday, and we might have a new cash rate by then,” she said.
“This time around it’s one of the rare times that it could come out as either a cut, a hold, or an increase … that’s why we’re seeing a little bit of a drop in activity.”
Mardiasmo said there have been last-minute whispers about the possibility of a rate cut.
“I wouldn’t be surprised that many people are holding out and waiting to see if that actually does happen on Tuesday,” she said.
“It’s a very, very, very small probability, but with the uncertainty of the federal budget investment laws and what will be legislated, I think everyone is clinging to … any hope.”
