Real estate updates: latest results from the Sydney property market
Sydney properties have been selling under the hammer for huge prices, with one seller getting a truly phenomenal deal. See replays of the weekend’s biggest auctions
Auctioneer Anthony Meaker (centre) calls bids at a recent Eastwood auction. Picture: David Swift
Welcome to The Daily Telegraph’s auction coverage.
Sydney remains a buyer’s market but agents have reported a shortgage of “A-grade” properties – fully renovated houses with a good aspect that “tick every box” for buyers.
And that means those that are up for sale have often received strong interest at auction.
With just over 500 auctions held this weekend, we’ve included the results of some of the biggest auctions below and you can also watch replays of some of Saturday’s results.
CLICK ON THE ADDRESS TO WATCH THE AUCTION REPLAY OR SCROLL BELOW FOR THE LATEST UPDATES
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Updates
Hunters Hill house sells for $347k above 2021 price
A Hunters Hill house that sold in June last year for $3.3m has resold at auction for $347,000 higher – despite a weaker market and the property being in nearly identical condition.
Bidding for the two-storey house on High St started at $2.9m and auctioneer Damien Cooley dropped the hammer at $3,647,000. Four buyers participated in the auction.
It was a slow auction with Mr Cooley pausing proceedings numerous times. The first bids were in $100,000 increments, but by the tail end of the auction they were mostly in $5000 increases.
39 High St, Hunters Hill. The inside of the Hunters Hill home.
The eventual buyer secured the property with a bid only $1000 higher than the underbidder.
It appears the property had been used as a rental, with sales records showing the last advertised rent was $1600 per week.
Two hopeful buyers became locked in a bidding war for a dated Concord house and it drove the price up to $2.41m – $110,000 above the seller’s reserve.
It was the first time the three-bedroom house on Cormiston Ave was up for sale in nearly 30 years and the Saturday auction attracted three bidders.
The two bidders who competed traded bids in increases of $20,000 and $30,000 for much of the auction.
37 Cormiston Ave, Concord.
Auctioneer Edward Riley said the property’s scope for development aided the sale.
“It’s proof that despite rising building costs, rare properties offering a blank canvas to renovate or rebuild in a premier position are still highly sought after,” Mr Riley said. Horwood Nolan agent Shane Sullivan had the listing.
A long-time homeowner in Queens Park has pocketed $5.1m for her four-bedroom cottage – nearly $800,000 above the minimum price she was prepared to accept.
Sharon Lucas, who purchased the Alt St home back in 1986, said she was “delighted” with the higher than expected result and “a little surprised” at the turnout of people at the auction.
Close to 50 people attended, including eight bidders. Just shy of 200 groups had inspected the property during the inspections.
Ms Lucas said seeing so many people show an interest in the property ahead of the auction was encouraging and knowing it was on a larger block for the area, 388sqm, had given her confidence.
“It was renovated twice,” she said. “I realised mine was unique. It’s a very pretty house.”
There was a crowd at the Queens Park auction. Picture: Julian Andrews.
Selling agent Alexander Phillips, the director of PPD Real Estate, attributed the bumper price to the low supply of similar properties on the market.
“It’s one of the top three streets in the neighbourhood,” he said. “In this market, it’s only vendors with strong reasons to sell that are listing. The rest are holding off.
“There’s now a shortage of properties on A-grade streets, but that’s what buyers have been retreating to as the market has softened up.”
Most of the interested buyers who went through the home in the lead up to the sale were families based in nearby Paddington and Woollahra, Mr Phillips said. Some were hoping to upsize from terraces.
Auctioneer Paul Menck said the auction was reminiscent of the kind of sales that were commonplace last year, when the market was red hot.
“It was free flowing. The first bid came immediately,” he said, adding that the second bid of $4.3m likely knocked out most of the registered bidders.
Auctioneer Paul Menck (left) calls bids on the Queens Park home. Picture: Julian Andrews
“It was like setting the cat among the pigeons,” he said, adding that the rest of the auction became a showdown between “two very emotionally invested buyers”.
Mr Menck said more buyers were creeping back into the market buoyed by the prospect of getting a lower price than they would have last year, but most wanted properties that “ticked all the boxes”.
“If it’s a property that doesn’t give buyers any reason to go ‘oh no, not that’ it will sell well because there are less of these to choose from.”
A crowd of nearly 100 people were reported to have swarmed the auction for a five-bedroom house on a 700sqm block in Baulkham Hills and the home sold for nearly $2.1m.
Agents Simon Kowald and Aaron Godfrey of Guardian Realty were instructed to set the reserve for the Wells Crt home at $1.95m. The big crowd included 16 registered bidders.
Auctioneer Stu Benson of Benson Auctions said the result was a reflection of how few listings were available in some parts of the Hills District.
Auctioneer Stu Benson calls bids at the auction for 7 Wells Court, Baulkham Hills. The Wells Court home.
“Seasonally, we should have more listings on the market, but we’re nowhere near what we need,” he said.
“While interest rate rises have certainly slowed the growth of the market, people still need somewhere to live.”
Christmas and the start of the new school year were closing in for some families with plans to buy and settle into new homes before then, Mr Benson added.
“Today’s buyers were on the clock, having sold their home two weeks ago and needing somewhere to move into before Christmas … We still have more buyers than homes available."
‘It’s embarrassing’: Baulkham Hills bidders urged to get a move on
A Baulkham Hills house last traded in the 1980s has sold under the hammer for $2.055m at an auction where the auctioneer admonished bidders for making late offers.
“If you bid after the hammer drops it’s embarrassing for you and it’s embarrassing for me,” auctioneer Ben Mitchell said.
The property on Colosseum Rd was hotly contested. Four of the registered parties took part in the auction, making a total 26 bids between them, but bidding was slower at the end of the auction.
25 Colosseum Cres, Baulkham Hills.
Mr Mitchell called the home “on the market” at $2m, implying bidding had surpassed the reserve, but it’s likely the reserve price was below that.
The sellers had purchased the home in 1986 for just over $140,000, according to sales records.
A three-bedroom house in Prestons was among the properties that passed in at auction without attracting a single bid this morning. The property on Kiora Crt remains up for sale.
A townhouse on Tennyson Rd in North Ryde passed in on a bid of $1.425m, despite a large crowd at the auction and expectations earlier this week that there would be at least five bidders competing for the property. There were three registered bidders and two made offers.
The property sold about half an hour after the auction for $1.5m.
Sydney houses priced below $600,000 have vanished from the market and there remains just one house priced below $700,000 currently available.
New data from PropTrack has revealed Sydney’s 20 cheapest houses currently on the market, with most ranging in price from $700,000-$800,000.
Of the 20 cheapest freestanding houses, 17 are based in the Greater Western Sydney area – mostly in the southwest and Blacktown regions. Sydney’s cheapest house currently on the market is a three-bedroom, one-bathroom property in Blacktown. More details here
A Manly penthouse has sold for $9m at auction – $750,000 over reserve.
The four-bedroom apartment had direct access to Delwood Beach, spectacular water views and was a five-minute walk to Manly wharf.
Former TV executive Ian Holmes and his wife Anne had paid $5.8m for the unit in 2017.
Selling agent Anthony Calacoci, of Belle Property Manly, said 3/47 The Crescent had a guide of $7m this time around and the two-level apartment attracted 20,000 hits on the net, 160 in person inspections and 18 contracts. More details here
Chippendale vendors sell for more than double price they paid
A two-bedroom unit in a Chippendale warehouse that was converted to a residential building has sold for $650,000 above the price it was marketed at in the lead up to the auction.
The price guide for the unit on Moorgate St had been $1.6m, but it sold under the hammer for $2.25m. The sellers had purchased the home for $920,000 in 2008. There were 15 bidders registered for the auction with Ray White selling agent Matthew Carvahlo.
38/9-27 Moorgate St, Chippendale.
$310k over reserve for terrace that last sold for $295k
A dozen bidders registered for the auction of a two-bedroom terrace in Newtown and the strong competition drove the price $310,000 over reserve.
The property on Linthorpe St sold under the hammer for $1.71m. It had last sold in 1999 for $295,000, sales records showed.
The winning bid came from a young family living in a neighbouring suburb who had been looking to buy their first home for three years, but took a break during the height of the market.
50 Linthorpe Street, Newtown.
"They saw it on Wednesday for the first time and loved it. They had just started looking again," said Ray White selling agent Shaun Stoker. "If owners meet the market it's really competitive. These owners had realistic expectations. It drove a lot of interest and they achieved a great result."
