Outrage after one-bedroom Sydney apartment sells $700k higher than expected

Sydney’s property market is meant to be slowing down but this picture proves that people will still pay anything to become a homeowner.

The outrageous price for a Sydney flat is proof that the city’s turbocharged property market is showing no signs of slowing down any time soon.

On Saturday morning, a disappointed journalist took to Twitter after a one-bedroom apartment she had attended at auction sold for $700,000 more than the price guideline.

Tamsin Rose, from The Guardian, tweeted: “At a 1 bedroom apartment auction in Birchgrove. It was listed for $800,000. It just sold for $1.532m.”

Jokingly, she added: “It had a clear toilet set though so many worth it?”

The tweet garnered hundreds of likes from others frustrated with surging property prices after an unprecedented 12 months for the real estate sector.

Properties rose by a whopping 25 per cent last year in a housing boom that hasn’t been seen since the 1980s.

Despite warnings of a property slowdown — with banks last week claiming properties would decrease by as much as 11 per cent in coming years — it appears aspiring homeowners must wait a little longer for a significant price drop.

It had a clear toilet set though so many worth it? pic.twitter.com/DkHj5LRzS7

— Tamsin Rose (@tamsinroses) February 18, 2022

The aspiring homeowner joked that the toilet seat made the apartment worth an extra $700,000.

The frustrated Ms Rose also pointed out about the property: “Sucky under quoting, waste of time for many.

“First listed at $750,000 on Feb 4. So it sold for more than double initial guide.”

The Birchgrove apartment has one bedroom, one bathroom and one garage space, making its $1.5 million sale a staggering price indeed.

The 977 square metre apartment last sold in 2014, according to property records, for just $600,000.

“A superficial renovation and the price jumps $900,000 in 8 years,” one Twitter user pointed.

This one-bedder sold for $1.532 million.

The apartment had harbour views.

There are more than 1000 properties going to auction this Saturday in Sydney.

In an even more extreme example, an inner west home sold for an eye-watering $1.25 million over its reserve price just before noon on Saturday.

A crowd of about 100, with 17 registered bidders among them, pushed up the price for a Strathfield dwelling from $2.3 million to $3.55 million.

The seller’s parents had purchased the property in 1978 for just $65,000, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Sydney properties have boomed in the last 12 months.

2021 was one of the best years ever for homeowners.

Sydney grew the most out of any capital city during the unprecedented property surge of 2021.

January data shows that the average price tag of a house in an Australian capital cities comes in at exactly $1,066,133.

This time a year ago, the national average was $851,000 for a dwelling. It’s risen by $150,000 per home in a year.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Sydney which is dragging up the national average considerably.

The average Sydney home hit a record of $1.6 million in 2021, up from the $1.2 million median back in 2020.

That means each house in the NSW capital saw its price rise by $1100 every single day last year, on average.

Greater Sydney house prices jumped by 33.1 per cent, equivalent to almost $400,000 of the home’s value.

In fact, so staggering were some of the price hikes in Sydney that some suburbs have now become billion-dollar areas.

The one-bedroom apartment sold way above reserve.

Some areas in Sydney are valued at more than one billion dollars.

Figures from realestate.com.au revealed there were multiple areas where more than a billion dollars changed hands through property trades in 2021.

Mosman in Sydney’s lower north shore had around $1.82 billion in real estate sales last year – topping the charts nationally.

Castle Hill in the city’s northwest wasn’t too far behind, with $1.06 billion worth of sales.

Randwick fell just short of a billion dollars with $980 million in sales, while Bellevue Hill, St Ives, Maroubra and Manly each had over $840 million in sales.

Homeowners in some areas made $50,000 extra every month as their property rose in value.

A total of 127 suburbs across the country reaped profits of $50,000 or more over the last 12 months using data for the rising price of the average home. Of those suburbs, 116 were from NSW.

Homeowners at the Sydney eastern suburb of Dover Heights made more than anyone else in the country, raking in $111,500 every month.

Sydney’s eastern suburbs and northern beaches dominated.

Over in Sydney’s east, Dover Heights, Bronte, Bondi, Bondi Beach, North Bondi, Clovelly and Queens Park all got into the list for highest grossing suburbs for houses.

Those suburbs grew in value anywhere from $84,000 to $111,000 per month.

The suburbs of Fairlight and Balgowlah Heights in Sydney’s Northern Beaches also got an honourable mention, generating an extra $95,000 and $94,000 every month, respectively.