Daily Telegraph real estate blog: rolling updates from the property market
Homeowners have been getting auction results that fly in the face of the current property downturn, with one home selling for more than $1m over reserve. Watch replays of the biggest results
A recent auction in Eastwood. Picture: David Swift
Discounted properties, so-called McMansions and houses requiring pricey repairs were among the most hotly contested real estate offerings to go under the hammer this weekend.
Close to 600 properties went go to auction, a rise from last week when the long weekend and NRL Grand Final discouraged some homeowners from scheduling sales.
You can catch up on the biggest results by watching the auction replays below or scroll through the latest news.
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It’s the kind of competition rarely seen since last year – a crowd of 34 bidders were seen huddling under umbrellas to battle it out for a two-bedroom house in Earlwood needing expensive repairs.
The bidders attending the rainy auction may have been enticed by the prospect of getting a discount, with the property listed with a guide of $885,000 – unusually low for the popular inner west suburb.
But with so much bidder competition on the Homer St house, it sold at auction for $1.27m.
504 Homer St, Earlwood.
Cobden and Hayson selling agent Jim Nikolopoulous said the property required at least $250,000 in repairs. “The cleanup alone would be nearly $70,000”, he said.
He told the Sunday Telegraph before the auction that the $885,000 price guide was close to the reserve.
“A lot of the buyers at inspections walked away saying it required too much work,” he said. “It’s uninhabitable.”
Malabar, Drummoyne houses pass in despite attracting large bids
Proving this remains something of a Jekyll and Hyde market, many of today’s auctions failed to produce the goods for home sellers, despite some of the massive results we’ve seen for other properties.
A single-level home in a popular bayside pocket of Drummoyne passed in at auction on a bid of $2.45m. Six bids were placed for the property including an opening bid of $2.1m.
A house on Prince Edward St in Malabar also passed in this afternoon, this time on a vendor bid of $2.95m. The highest bid from the registered parties was $2.9m.
A tired looking house on a cul de sac in Concord attracted 11 bidders at auction and sold for $2,205,000 – $155,000 above the seller’s reserve price.
Agents Raine and Horne Concord had been guiding $2m on the Evelyn Ave house in the lead up to today’s auction and bidding opened at $1.7m.
The buyer was a family with plans to knock the original house down and replace it with a modern build.
Auctioneer Michael Garofolo said there was strong interest in the property because it offered a rare opportunity to build in the popular inner west suburb.
11 Evelyn Avenue, Concord.
He said some bidders were not perturbed by rising building costs and tradie shortages because they could “make up the difference with a cheaper price on the block”.
“Prices have dropped, there’s a perception of more value,” Mr Garofolo said, adding that most recent auctions were dominated by experienced bidders who had owned properties for decades.
“The first homebuyers are sitting on the fence,” he said. “Most of our bidders have been in one or two market cycles. They’ve seen prices go up, go down, go sideways … it’s the first homebuyers who are nervous."
'Just an ordinary suburban road': modest house sells for $3.9m
A modest brick house in Russell Lea has changed hands for nearly $3.9m at auction – close to quadruple the price it last traded at in 2008.
Nine buyer groups registered to bid for the three-bedroom house with one-bathroom on Russell St, including a mix of developers wanting to exploit the 700sqm block and upsizing families.
Selling agent Fiona Hellams of Ray White IW Group said she was “blown away” by the higher than expected price in what has been a slower market.
“It’s incredible that it's near $4m and it’s just an ordinary suburban road,” she said.
20 Russell St, Russell Lea.
The buyer was a developer bidding online and it was reported he would be knocking the original structure down and replacing it with duplexes.
Ms Hellams said the shortage of newly-built houses in the area may have played a part in driving up the price. “There are not many brand new houses in the area and few sites where you can develop them.”
Darlinghurst terrace sells nearly $500k over reserve
A historic Darlinghurst terrace last renovated in the 1980s has sold for nearly $3m at a pressure cooker auction called by real estate tycoon John McGrath.
The four-level property at 165 Crown St, which included a double garage, had last traded in 1977 for $24,000 and the price was nearly $500,000 over reserve.
The property had a dated interior and was considered a “blank canvas” for renovators. Nine bidders registered to bid.
While introducing the property to bidders, Mr McGrath said the family who had lived there for 45 years had “fond memories” of the property in the heart of Darlinghurst.
“In this location, why wouldn’t you?” he said, adding that they were sitting on a “gold mine”.
“This is going to be one of the most sought after addresses in Sydney in coming years,” he said, drawing parallels between Darlinghurst and historic New York suburbs where the row houses now sell for upwards of $10m.
“You won’t be able to buy these in a few years,” he told bidders.
Auctioneer John McGrath calls bids on the Darlinghurst home. Picture: David Swift
Mr McGrath, the McGrath Estate Agents founder and TV personality, rarely auctions off properties and was not originally expected to be the auctioneer for the Crown St home.
Selling agent Fraser Turvey said the sellers were delighted to find out the company CEO would be calling the sale.
The interior reflected some of the tastes of homeowners in the 1980s: some rooms were decked in wood panel, while floral carpeting appeared in the lounge.
One room was painted pink. A rooftop area – highly unusual for a terrace – was decorated with small Roman-style pillars.
The home at 165 Crown St, Darlinghurst. David Swift
Bidding commenced at $2m and there was strong bidding from buyers making offers on site, via telephone or online.
The hammer eventually dropped at $2,985,000. The buyer was a family who will renovate the property and move in. Mr McGrath said during the auction that the underbidder may regret not offering more.
“He’ll be lying in bed tonight wishing he had bid $3m … imagine what it will be worth in a few years’ time.”
A four-bedroom house in The Ponds in Sydney’s west has sold for a new price record for a single level house in the suburb.
A crowd of about 100 people, including nine registered bidders, attended the auction for the Ridge Line Drive home set on 610sqm – unusually large for the area.
Bidding started at $1.5m and didn’t take long to surpass the $1.7m reserve.
137 Ridgeline Drive, The Ponds.
Auctioneer Michael Garofolo, calling the auction on behalf of agents Eddie Quispe and Amy Raisin of Hills District Real Estate, said there was strong interest in the property because of the large land parcel. “It’s like acreage in The Ponds. Most of the blocks are 400sqm,” he said.
No luck for sellers in Pyrmont and North Kellyville
It remains a difficult market for some sellers. A unit on Point St in Pyrmont passed in at auction this morning without attracting a single bid, while in North Kellyville, a house on Odsal St passed in on a bid of $1.45m.
There have also been sellers withdrawing homes from auction in Paddington, Marrickville and Mosman after failing to attract enough bidders to justify the auction.
An Ermington property touted as a potential duplex site has sold under the hammer for $2.08m – the first property of its kind in the area to crack the $2m mark since April.
“We were selling these for other $2m with our eyes closed last year, but we haven’t seen this kind of bidding this year,” said auctioneer Michael Garofolo. The price was $308,000 above the seller’s reserve.
The auction for the property on River Rd attracted seven bidders, four of whom took part in the auction.
13 River Rd, Ermington.
Mr Garofolo said the interest rate rise earlier this week (the Reserve Bank increased the cash rate by 0.25 per cent) appeared to be encouraging some bidders.
“A rate rise is not good for activity, but the fact it was a smaller rate rise does suggest the Reserve Bank is taking its foot off the accelerator,” he said. “That slowdown is seen as a positive.”
A property in Huntleys Point that last traded for $475,000 in 1986 has changed hands at auction for $11.5m.
There were three bidders vying for the towering waterfront house known as ‘Mount Vernon’ and more than 50 bids were placed – initially in $250,000 and $100,000 increments.
Once the bidding had exceeded $10.5m, auctioneer Damien Cooley told buyers that they were playing for keeps. This would mean the final price was at least $1m over reserve.
One attendee at the auction for Huntleys Point Rd house could be heard saying “it’s ridiculous” once bidding hit $11.5m.
15 Huntleys Point Road, Huntleys Point.
The auction was initially slow to get started. There was a tense wait to see who would make the opening bid, with Mr Cooley, the director of auction house Cooley, urging buyers to make a $9m bid.
He warned that the bids would quickly follow once someone made the first move and was proved right when the $8.5m starting bid was quickly followed by an $8.75m and then $9m offer. Three bidders participated in the auction.
Listed with The Agency’s Stephanie O’Sullivan and Lee Dowdall, it was described during the auction as “trophy real estate”, although it is south-facing and captures traffic noise from nearby Victoria Rd.
The home has 25m of water frontage.
The interior was somewhat dated, but the 25m of water frontage was likely the main attraction for buyers.
Details provided in the listing revealed there was an internal lift, water views across three levels and a “sports bar”.
It will be a nervous wait to see how bidding unfolds for some homeowners given the recent drop in buyer demand and lingering uncertainty around interest rate movements.
Prices across Sydney as a whole have dropped nearly 5 per cent since February, but the drops were even larger in coastal regions.
The average northern beaches property traded in September for about 12 per cent lower than the year prior, while in the eastern suburbs the average decline was about 9 per cent.
These movements disguised the large variance in price tags across individual properties.
Agents reported fully renovated houses with large land allotments and an aspect allowing for ample natural light were attracting high bidder numbers at auction. The properties getting heavily discounted were dated, situated on main roads or were cookie cutter units in high-rise buildings.
Among the properties expected to be hotly contested is a five-bedroom duplex in Ryde going to auction at 9:15am Saturday with a $1.6 million guide. It was the most popular auction listing on realestate.com.au this week.
Other homes expected to attract strong interest are a rundown house in Earlwood, where the agent is expecting at least 10 bidders to register.
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