Selling Houses Australia host Andrew Winter’s waterfront home passes in at auction
Andrew Winter — using his third real estate agent — has failed to sell his luxury home; Jackie O misses out on a Vaucluse “cheapie”; and what the weekend’s auction results reveal about the Sydney property market.
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Selling Houses Australia presenter Andrew Winter and wife Caroline put their glamorous Gold Coast home to auction yesterday — and it was passed in.
There was a $3 million vendor bid despite seven interested parties.
Winter had dumped two estate agencies who had been unsuccessful in finding a buyer for the five-bedroom Sanctuary Cove home since it was listed at $3,995,000 in January.
The Winters paid $1.9 million in 2017 and spent 12 months on the makeover.
No doubt his Selling Houses Australia expert team, interior designer Shaynna Blaze and landscape gardener Charlie Albone, gave him plenty of advice.
And Neale Whitaker, his co-compere on soon-to-air Foxtel series, Love It or List It, could offer some advice now.
The couple, however, has already purchased a new home — a Mermaid Beach house just two rows back from Millionaires’ Row, which cost $1.575 million.
HOMEBUYERS BACK IN THE SYDNEY MARKET
Home buyers still have limited auction choices, as vendors hold back from early spring listings across Sydney.
There were a steady 260 sales on the weekend, coming from a slightly reduced 83 per cent preliminary clearance rate.
The total number of auction listings over the next week does rise, but only to 610, up from 580 over the past seven days. There were 520 auctions scheduled in the first week of spring.
The rise in auction listings was from a very weak starting point, Westpac senior economist Matthew Hassan noted.
The buyers are definitely back, REA chief economist Nerida Conisbee confirmed.
“But it’s taking a while for sellers to get back into the market — that’s really the sticking point.
“Once sellers start to see price movement, that will give them more confidence,” she said.
CoreLogic auction analyst Kevin Brogan has suggested the continued rebound in clearance rates after the May election through the winter and into spring, which had been accompanied by some price growth, would be tested by the seasonal rise in listing numbers.
Brogan thinks Sydney’s recovery may have already “reached a plateau.”
Weekend bidder numbers remained strong with 30 registered bidders for a Baulkham Hills house that fetched $1.2 million. Another nearby home had 22 register to bid.
But there were no bid auctions too including a riverfront at Woronora.
It holds six upstairs bedrooms, with a canoe hire shed along with a cafe.
The crowd attending the onsite auction were fed jam scones.
Sydney’s top notified sale was at Northwood when $3.71 million was paid for a two storey five bedroom brick house, marketed by McGrath agent Brent Courtney has having both water and city views.
The weekend results did show the market strength was in houses and not apartments.
CoreLogic noted that there was an 84 per cent success rate for Sydney houses, against a 73 per cent apartment clearance rate.
It was too early to suggest this was an emerging trend as there had been several weeks when units have actually outperformed houses in Sydney, “reflective of affordability constraints,” Brogan noted.
The median price of sold Sydney houses was $1.33 million as against $951,000 for units.
Brogan says it might be possible that results may vary between older units and newer taller units in the light of coverage of building defects.
Sydney’s cheapest sale was a studio apartment in Gladesville that sold for $307,000, just above its $300,000 price guide.
The 1983-built unit, with just 23 sqm space, last sold in 2007 at $149,000.
The Belle selling agent Michael Gallina said it was sold to an investor.
Last week the Federal Government introduced legislation to implement the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme.
It is aimed at providing a guarantee that will allow eligible first home buyers on low and middle incomes to purchase a home with a deposit of as little as 5 per cent.
The Scheme will support 10,000 first home buyers each financial year, starting next January.
Sydney’s private treaty listing numbers are down too.
Over the past 28 days there have been 5,600 fresh private treaty listings, some 17 per cent fewer than the same period last year.
There are 22,000 private treaty listings in total on offer across Sydney which is down 20 per cent on last September.
WHEN SIZE MATTERS
Joanna Stevens Kramer and her husband, Robert, have listed their five-bedroom, three-bathroom Riverview home for a September 28 auction.
Simon Harrison at Belle Property Lane Cove, has $2.9 million to $3.1 million hopes for the Kallaroo Rd offering.
“Five-bedroom houses are highly sought here because a lot of families want to be close to Saint Ignatius College,” Mr Harrison said.
The agency recently sold a five-bedroom house on College Rd South for $250,000 over reserve at $4,405,500 with eight registered bidders.
It sold to buyers upgrading within Riverview.
The Kramers are selling as they are building again on the same street.
“We love the neighbourhood too much to leave,” Mrs Stevens Kramer said.
The median house price in Riverview is $2.65 million.
Census data shows Riverview has 900 houses with about 20 per cent having five bedrooms, 40 per cent having four bedrooms and 30 per cent having three bedrooms.
PARADISE COMES WITH A PRICE TAG
A Greenhills Beach building block in the almost-complete coastal suburb fetched $3.3 million after negotiations followed its weekend onsite auction.
The 787sqm site on Shorebird Pde was marketed by Tony Graham from Highland Property Cronulla, as the last chance for one of the 27 prime foreshore blocks.
There was just the one $2.7 million bid, and then a $3 million vendor bid.
The block had initially sold through Savills in 2015 at $2.65 million, so the sale reflected 5 per cent annual growth.
It was where the Breen Group mined sand to be used in infrastructure such as houses, city buildings and even the Sydney Opera House.
The priciest building block sale was $3.5 million last year having initially sold at $3 million. Completed homes away from the foreshore have sold for between $1.88 million and $3.1 million in the past year.
The tech tycoon Ben Richardson and wife Inger are building their home on a 3350sqm holding that cost $12.6 million.
HISTORIC LANDMARK RIPE FOR REVIVAL
There was a $2.8 million top bid when the lower floor of a Georgian-style duplex at Edgecliff was passed in at its weekend auction.
Alexander Phillips, from Phillips Pantzer Donnelley, then started post-auction negotiations which quickly resulted in the $3.05 million sale of the Quambi Place home.
There were just the two bidders, with leading barrister Guy Reynolds the top bidder, seeking to add to his top-floor ownership which had cost $698,000 in 1992.
Marketed as a “treasure waiting to be reborn”, the 1920s home was designed as an exact replica of Parramatta’s Old Government House, the heritage-listed former country residence used by NSW governors in the early 1800s.
The four-bedroom home has been gutted and is not in habitable condition.
Set on a 700sqm block, the apartment was last sold when bought by the Stackpool family for $300,100 in 1983.
STAR IN YOUR SUBURB
The realestate.com.au chief economist Nerida Conisbee calculates Vaucluse having a $6.5 million median sale price over the past year.
Breakfast radio star Jackie ‘O’ Henderson missed out on a cheapie recently, a $5.86 million offering.
It had last sold for $3.2 million in 2012.
Ms Henderson, who had only seen the five-bedroom home on auction day, was there with her estranged husband, photographer Lee Henderson, and their seven-year-old daughter, Kitty.
The couple retain their nearby 1920s home which cost $2.7 million seven years ago.
