By Kristy Johnson
A Marrickville father placed the winning bid of $1,626,000 at auction on Saturday for a fixer-upper in the suburb, which his daughter and her boyfriend will renovate and live in at a later date.
Three buyers, all assisted by the bank of mum and dad, registered to bid on the three-bedroom, one-bathroom house with no kitchen at 9 Fernbank Street. It had a price guide of $1.5 million and reserve of $1,575,000.
An opening bid of $1.52 million was made by the Marrickville father who runs a local business and attended with his daughter and her boyfriend, both in their 20s.
It was followed by a $1.53 million bid made by a buyer’s agent representing a young couple from Cronulla. The third first home buyer, alongside her parents, entered at $1.61 million. It came down to $1000 bids until it sold.
It was one of 398 scheduled auctions in Sydney on Saturday. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 63.1 per cent from 255 reported results, while 58 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
A Marrickville father assisted his daughter with the purchase of a fixer-upper in the suburb at auction on Saturday.Credit: Steven Siewert
The Marrickville home last sold for $850,000 in 2013, records show, almost doubling in 11 years.
Richardson & Wrench Ryde City’s Conor Arnold said that while there’s more stock in spring, properties were not selling as fast.
“If homes are priced sensibly then there will be interest. Those looking for a golden number, testing the market and thinking they’re going to hit the high end, they will miss,” he said.
In Greenacre, a young family who live opposite 21 Ivy Street were outbid for the three-bedroom, one-bathroom home, which sold for $1.29 million.
The successful buyers are a young family from the suburb who will renovate and rent out the home before knocking it down to build their dream home. The other two active bidders were builders and developers from the suburb.
Professionals Greenacre Real Estate’s Bassam Barake said bidding was slow to start with an opening bid of $1.1 million made by one of the developers.
Bidding rose in increments of $5000 to $10,000 and came to a halt at $1,287,500, with the reserve set at $1.3 million.
Barake said the owner decided the figure was close enough to get it on the market.
“With all the talk about interest rates coming down, there are more properties now than what there were a couple of months ago,” Barake said. “It’s not a supply issue any more. Buyers are picking and choosing and waiting for a property that ticks all the boxes.”
In North Sydney, a townhouse sold for $2.4 million to a family upsizing from a neighbouring suburb.
The four-bedroom, two-bathroom home at 4/50-60 Clark Road had a price guide of $2.3 million and a reserve set at $2.4 million.
The property, not far from the new metro, attracted three registered buyers, all upsizing families. There was an opening bid of $2.2 million, and the bidding rose in $25,000 increments between two buyers for most of the auction. But bidding did stall for a moment and negotiations ensued until the hammer fell at $2.4 million.
It sold through Nicholas Christou and Louise Barton of BresicWhitney Lower North Shore.
Barton said there was interest from upsizing families, downsizers, as well as a few investors during the campaign. However, when it came to auction day it was only upsizing families that chose to bid.
She said interest in the property and North Sydney lies in the new metro line that runs from Chatswood in Sydney’s lower north shore to Sydenham in the inner west.
“The new metro is definitely making a difference to the area. It’s so convenient as you can be in Barangaroo in just three minutes’ time from North Sydney,” she said.
“People once thought the area was quite commercialised, and it has now become a key lifestyle suburb. More families are looking to move into the area whereas it used to be quite investor-driven.”
Over in Frenchs Forest, young couples fought it out for a three-bedroom, one-bathroom home that sold under the hammer for $2,282,000.
The property at 4 Comeroy Crescent drew nine registered bidders and four active bidders, with tight bidding between three young couples.
The property sold to a young couple, thought to be in their thirties, from the inner-city suburb of Chippendale.
Stone Real Estate Forest’s David Hayden said the winning couple attended the auction by themselves, with no family in attendance.
Guided at $1.95 million, the reserve was set at $2.15 million. Hayden said the reserve would have been reduced to $2.1 million if need be.
An opening bid of $1.9 million was made with bidding tight, down to $1000 increments from the $2.27 million to $2.28 million mark.
The young couple, who secured the home, made a final bid of $2000, which sealed the deal.