Hottest house in Australia up for auction turns heads in cracker sale
The most-viewed house up for auction this week has sold in a tense auction, with one bidder sweeping the competition by spiking its price.
The most-viewed house up for auction in all of Australia this weekend has sold at auction on Saturday, with one bidder pricing out her eight opponents with a raise of $50,000.
PropTrack’s latest property preview report recorded the home at 143 Empress Tce, Bardon, QLD, to have the highest number of views out of all houses up for auction this weekend.
The only property to have more views than the two-bedroom, one-bathroom cottage was an apartment in Freshwater, NSW.
Dixon Estate Toowong agent Carol Summerlin said she was taken by surprise at the reception to the property online, and said it spoke to the charm of these types of cottages.
“I knew that the product was good, but I am genuinely blown away by that,” she said. “That’s huge.”
She added that the high online response validated the use of high-quality photography commissioned for the campaign.
Nine registered bidders attended the auction that day, with one calling in over the phone. Five of the bidders were active, with each trying to stake their claim on the house over the course of 13 bids.
Auctioneer Jack Dixon presided over the event. With a starting bid of $1.1 million, the auction climbed at a steady pace before stalling near the end.
It took a decisive bid from the winner to finalise the purchase, when they raised the offer by $50,000 to price opponents out and put the property on the market.
“It was a big jump, the winning bid,” Ms Summerlin said.
Finally, the home sold that morning for a total of $1.33 million.
With a median house price of $1.735 million for Bardon, the cottage ended up selling at a rare affordable price in the suburb.
The home was previously owned by a couple, who made plans to sell the cottage for an interstate move.
The winning bidder of the auction was mother buying the home for her daughter. Ms Summerlin said she wanted the property for “the charm, the big back garden, and to be part of this hotly contested Bardon community.”
“She’s a single mum, and that’s a big deal,” she said of the new homeowner. “[They] will make it their home, and are very familiar with multiple people who live in the area. They definitely bought to be a part of the community.”
PropTrack’s report also saw a 20 per cent uptick in auctions for Queensland, compared to this time last year.
At 324 scheduled auctions, it marks the first big rise in auctions this Spring.
Greater Brisbane’s auctions saw the biggest year-on-year improvement, at 157 auctions (a 28 per cent increase). Meanwhile, regional Queensland saw a greater number of scheduled auctions at 167, but a smaller rise compared to last year (14 per cent).
Originally published as Hottest house in Australia up for auction turns heads in cracker sale