A Bellevue Hill father bought a $2,912,000 four-bedroom Marrickville home for his daughter after viewing it for the first time at auction on Saturday.
BresicWhitney Inner West agent Brad Papaellinas said the father had inspected 10 Murray Street for the first time just 30 minutes before the auction, after his daughter had told him of her interest in the home, and registered soon after.
“The daughter fell in love with the home and told her dad. She previously rented in Newtown and loved the inner west and wanted to return to the area after moving back in with her parents in Bellevue Hill,” Papaellinas said.
The father was one of seven registered bidders on the home, which had a price guide of $2.2 million. He outbid four active bidders: a couple who recently sold in Bellevue Hill, a Marrickville local, a single professional from Surry Hills and a family from Bundeena.
It was one of 918 scheduled auctions in Sydney on Saturday. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 59 per cent from 890 reported results, while 206 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
Bidding opened at $2.35 million and soon soared past its $2.4 million reserve. The house last sold for $625,000 in 2007, records show, the price more than quadrupling.
Meanwhile, a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in the landmark Griffiths Teas building in Surry Hills sold in a post-auction negotiation for $1.9 million, bang on its reserve price.
The unit at 602/46 Wentworth Avenue had a price guide of $1.7 million and drew three registered bidders: a couple from Pearl Beach, Surry Hills investors and a first home buyer couple from Bondi.
An opening bid of $1.7 million started the auction, and there was tight bidding until $1.86 million, where it paused. After it resumed, the Pearl Beach couple placed the highest bid of $1,875,000 but the home passed in. It sold to them later in a post-auction deal.
The seller, a retiree, had bought it as an investment property for $2 million in 2015, records show.
A Central Coast couple paid $1.9 million for the Surry Hills unit in post-auction negotiations on Saturday.Credit: Dylan Coker
Belle Property Surry Hills agent Ted Pye said the market had flat-lined over the past three months. He said properties were still selling at good prices, but there was a lack of urgency among buyers.
A deceased estate that hit the market for the first time in 25 years in one of Cronulla’s best streets sold at auction for $4,316,000 to a young couple with children from the suburb.
All four registered buyers placed bids for the three-bedroom, three-bathroom home at 10 Via Mare Street, which last sold for $920,000 in 1999. The bidders were all young families; three from the suburb and one from the neighbouring suburb of Caringbah.
The price guide for the property was in the low to mid $4 millions and the reserve was $4.3 million.
Gibson Partners agent Ivan Lampret said Via Mare Street was one of the “best streets” on the ocean side of Cronulla. Homes there are tightly held and there are many long-term residents. The median house price for Cronulla fell 6.7 per cent to $2.8 million in the year to September on Domain data.
“Via Mare is one of the best streets on the ocean side, once you get out of the unit market in Cronulla,” Lampret said. “The main esplanade with its cafes, shops and restaurants is just 80 metres away.”
The opening bid was $4 million, and increments remained consistent until $4.25 million. Bidding quickly resumed after a brief pause.
The successful buyers, a husband and wife with two young children, are upsizers from a duplex within the suburb.
Lampret said buyers were now well-educated but that they were controlled by what they could borrow from the bank. If properties were priced realistically, they would sell, he said.
“If you’re trying to push the envelope and get that extra 5 to 10 per cent, that’s where many properties stay on the market,” he said.
In Dee Why, a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment sold under the hammer for $1,435,000 to a couple from Stanmore.
The property at 3/111 Oaks Avenue was guided at $1.3 million and the reserve was $1.45 million.
There were three more registered bidders, including a young family from Dee Why, a downsizer from the neighbouring suburb of Beacon Hill, and a single professional female from Dee Why who already owns an apartment in the suburb. All were active.
The opening bid was $1.3 million. Cunninghams Real Estate agent Matt Nicastri described bidding as tentative.
Bidding stalled at $1,415,000 before resuming. The Stanmore couple offered another $20,000 to seal the deal.
Nicastri said deals were still happening, but they required some extra time and finesse.