Run-down Bondi house sells for ‘crazy’ amount at auction

A “crazy” price for a Sydney home has dispelled any hope for first home buyers trying to get a foothold in the property market.

“Crazy” scenes at a Sydney auction have dispelled any hope of a sluggish property market for aspiring first home buyers.

A semi-detached house in Bondi hit the market on Saturday and its final price stunned real estate agents.

The run-down home had peeling wallpaper, stained walls and carpets that needed to be replaced. But that didn’t stop eager buyers pushing the price up more than $1 million over its reserve.

The owners of the 508 square metre house, which has three bedrooms and one bathroom, set the reserve price at $4.95 million.

Against the backdrop of the NSW capital’s turbocharged real estate industry, the property eventually sold for $5.65 million. That’s an eye-watering $700,000 above the price guide.

This Bondi semi-detached house sold for $700,000 over its reserve.

The home has peeling wallpaper.

Cooley Auctions auctioneer Michael Garofolo said the scenes at the Bondi auction were wild.

“[The buyers] went at it like a dog at a bone,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“We were all gobsmacked … it’s crazy money and they paid a premium.”

And in a sign that the housing market isn’t slowing down any time soon, other properties also drew ire from buyers who missed out after prices soared hundreds of thousands over the reserve.

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.

The home’s stained carpet is in need of replacing.

The place last sold more than 50 years ago.

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, news.com.au reported.

The four-bedroom, two bathroom freestanding house drew quite a crowd for the auction.

About 100 people, with 17 registered bidders among them, attended the bidding war.

The bidders pushed up the price for the Strathfield dwelling from $2.3 million to $3.55 million.

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

This Strathfield home sold $1.25 million above its reserve.

Sydney prices have soared in recent months.

Seventeen people vied for this house.

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.”

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

“First listed at $750,000 on February 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 inner west apartment last sold in 2014, according to property records, for just $600,000.

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

The view from this one-bedder apartment which sold $700,000 more than its price guide.

It sold for $1.532 million.

Over in Sydney’s northern beaches, another purchase stunned aspiring buyers.

In Queenscliff, a three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment sold for $3.475 million.

The reserve was $2.9 million, meaning it was $575,000 above that.

More than 1000 properties in Sydney went to auction this week.

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

Views from the Queenscliff apartment which sold $575,000 above reserve.

It sold for $3.475 million in the end.

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