Three generations are set to move into a $4,543,000 Chatswood home after securing it under the hammer on Saturday.
The five-bedroom, four-bathroom red brick family home with a swimming pool at 17 Lamette Street is a 15-minute stroll to the heart of Chatswood.
Three families registered to bid, all owner-occupiers drawn to the turnkey quality and location of the home guided at $4.2 million, and all took part in the auction.
Bidding opened at $4 million, with $50,000 bids to start before erratic smaller bids ranging from $1000 to $3000 were fired in rapid increments. The final bid was $1000, securing the property for $43,000 above its $4.5 million reserve.
“Three generations loved the size of the house,” Ray White’s Jessica Cao said.
Cao said all of her stock was selling fast. “We are just seeing a shortage of properties for the buyers to choose from. And there’s no new listings basically for December or January.”
The home last traded for $3.05 million in 2020, records show.
The vendor plans to move along the rail line on the upper north shore.
The sale was one of 838 auctions scheduled in Sydney on Saturday. By evening, Domain Group had recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 54.8 per cent from 739 reported results across the week, while 215 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
In Rosebery, an auction for a three-bedroom bungalow at 34 Wellington Street was attended by all the adult children who grew up there – one came from Melbourne and another from Canberra. On offer to the market for the first time in 50 years, the property sold for $1,815,000 to a family from Kensington who had been searching for a year.
Two registered, and both actively bid on the home with a reserve and guide of $1.8 million.
Bidding opened at $1.7 million and went up by $25,000 increments, followed by a $10,000 bid. At $1.76 million, they negotiated another $55,000 on the floor, where it sold for $1,815,000.
Selling agent Chris Skarlatos from The Agency said the street is tightly held, and a freestanding house only comes up every two years.
Skarlatos said the “pretty close” family “wanted to see off the home together”.
“They were happy, very happy,” he said of the result.
In Lane Cove, a single-level, four-bedroom home in a family neighbourhood went for $2,756,000 at auction. The property at 17 Second Avenue had a guided range of $2.5 million to $2.75 million and sold under the hammer for $31,000 above its $2,725,000 reserve.
Five parties registered, mostly renting or upsizing families, and four actively competed to live in the house.
Bidding opened in silence inside the home before a $2.5 million offer was placed. Then $50,000 increments drove the price up before shorter bids came towards the end.
“It was pretty drawn out, and that’s because we had a vendor on a phone interstate. And we also had one of the bidders that needed to make a few phone calls to … talk to his partner, who was absent,” said Will Robinson of McGrath Manly.
“It’s a family house that they have owned for years, and it’s just time; the kids have grown up, and it’s time to move on.”
In Wollstonecraft, a penthouse in a block of 12 sold for $1.61 million. The two-bedroom, freshly painted apartment at 11/60 Shirley Road sold for $410,000 above its $1.2 million reserve and guide. The 133-square-metre penthouse, with city views, came with a garage and was up three flights of stairs.
Eleven registered, including neighbours, some from the same building, and four actively bid. Most were owner-occupiers, and three of the registered parties were investors.
Bidding opened inside the apartment at $1.1 million. Forty bids went back and forth aggressively until it sold under the hammer for $1.61 million to an upgrading neighbour.
Selling agent Victoria Liu of Richardson & Wrench North Sydney said they had an unexpectedly large turnout. “Because it was raining today, we couldn’t have the auction on the street … [it was] pretty packed.
“When you look in the room, there’s no space. I can’t even walk through,” she said.
The unit last traded for $305,000 in 1991, records show.
AMP chief economist Dr Shane Oliver said Sydney’s clearance rate of 54.8 per cent was progressively getting worse.
Oliver said it had been the same story all year, although there was a degree of hope. “People have been able to get by, by relying on savings ... It’s quite possible those savings are now running down,” he said.
“Most economists are still saying May for a [interest] rate cut.”