A premium lifestyle property complete with tennis courts sold for $9.5 million in Wahroonga at auction on Saturday.
The six-bedroom grandiose home at 16 Braeside Street generated huge interest with 91 groups shown through the address during the campaign.
Five people registered, and four actively bid on the property. Bidding opened at $8.8 million.
After several $100,000 and $50,000 bids it sold for $9.5 million, meeting both the guide and the reserve.
Selling agent David Walker from Ray White Upper North Shore said the buyer will be moving from Seaforth.
“This is a really good indication that the market for good properties is still there,” he said.
The property last traded for $5.9 million in 2017, records show.
This was one of 811 homes scheduled to go under the hammer in Sydney on the weekend. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 67 per cent from 534 reported results, while 115 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
Elsewhere, retiring couple John Parnaby, from NSW Rural Fire Service, and Marian Parnaby, former deputy mayor of Canada Bay, sold their four-bedroom home in Newington at auction on Saturday.
The family home at 5 Ottey Avenue is located within a suburb best known as the location of the Athletes Village during the Sydney Olympics of 2000.
Six registered to bid and three actively bid on the house. Bidding opened bang on $2 million and within two $50,000 bids it was on the market, meeting the reserve of $2.1 million.
Bids of $50,000 were placed until hitting $2.3 million. Then came varying bids of $10,000 and $15,000 until the final bid of $2,450,000 closed the deal for local construction company owner John Morris and Rogelie Morris.
Selling agent Ania Aquino from McGrath Strathfield said the vendor, a “big country man”, was in tears.
“It’s obviously a very life-changing moment because they are retiring,” she said.
The Parnabys will be downsizing to a waterfront apartment in Wentworth Point. In a twist, the purchaser is moving from the same building.
“It’s a changing of guards kind of scenario. The buyers live in the same building that these owners are downsizing to,” said Aquino.
The property last traded for $973,000 in 2013, records show.
In Paddington, a dilapidated property located at 38 William Street sold for $2,715,000.
Selling agent Catherine Dixon from PPD Real Estate said despite the price of construction there are still some buyers with an appetite to do their own thing.
“I would have thought that with the price of construction over the last couple of years, people would have been shying away from unrenovated properties, but that doesn’t seem to be the case,” she said.
Chief economist at AMP, Dr Shane Oliver said the clearance rate of 67 per cent shows there is still demand, but it is subdued due to interest rates.
“[Immigration has] led to a shortage of properties. Which is a source of support for the property market, but the high interest rates are working in the opposite direction,” he said.
PRD’s chief economist Dr Diaswati Mardiasmo said the clearance rate is surprising due to the steady cash rate.
“I would have thought that it would be higher, to show that we are going back to that strong Sydney market,” she said.
Mardiasmo believes this is connected to the Australian household savings rate being under 5 per cent.
“So there could be some reservations in regards to purchasing power, because of less savings available.”