A waterfront four-bedroom apartment with picture-perfect views of Sydney Harbour was hotly contested by two downsizers at auction on Saturday, and sold for $4.3 million.
Thirty-five people gathered on the balcony at 7/68-70 Wrights Road, with the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the backdrop, and watched the rapid-fire bidding for the luxurious flat with three car spaces guided at $4 million.
Bidding opened at $3.8 million and, in mostly $100,000 lots, the price shot above its $4.2 million reserve to $4.3 million, where it sold under the hammer.
Selling agent Matt Ward from McGrath Hunters Hill said “it was a magical morning”.
“There are a lot of apartments in Drummoyne but not many big ones. This was just under 200 square metres internally, plus a 40-square-metre terrace. So the size is hard to come by, especially single-level,” he said.
The size, as well as the low maintenance of the amenities, was appealing to downsizers.
“The building itself is a waterfront complex which has a swimming pool, tennis court and pontoon,” he said.
“The market is cautious but good-quality real estate is still attracting astute interest.”
The vendors purchased the apartment for $1.25 million in 1998, with a view to retire there, but never made the move and it was leased out until now. The buyers are from the lower north shore.
The property was one of 1560 scheduled auctions in Sydney last week. Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 63.5 per cent from 970 reported results, while 245 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
In Concord, a brand-new sophisticated home at 4 Inverary Street sold above its $4.1 million reserve for $4,265,000.
The home was guided at $3.8 million and bidding opened at $3.6 million.
Six inner west locals registered for the stunning property and four actively competed in rises of $100,000 down to $5000.
McGrath Strathfield’s Tarun Sethi said “it was a turnkey proposition … brand-new home.”
Sethi said the market is quite strong and a good testament to a highly competitive market. Sethi had 11 auctions over the weekend.
The address last traded for $1,635,000 in 2020, records show. The vendor was a local builder. The buyers were upsizing from Mascot.
In Cabramatta, seven buyers registered for a five-bedroom house with a guide of $1.6 million. The single-level family home at 70 Sussex Street attracted owner-occupiers, a mix of growing families and older ones.
Six of the seven buyers were active in the ring. Bidding started at $1.3 million and rose rapidly in $100,000 increments.
When the price hit its reserve of $1.65 million, two buyers battled it out with smaller rises until a final $3000 bid secured the home for $1,803,000.
LJ Hooker’s Henry Thai said Cabramatta has changed, and he thinks it will become Burwood “one day”.
“People that can’t afford Burwood or Strathfield – they come here,” Thai said.
“Long, long time ago, nobody wanted to stay in Cabramatta … now it’s a different story,” he said.
Cabramatta’s median house price is now $1.1 million, Domain figures show, up 44.7 per cent in the 12 months to December.
The buyers are a local family. The vendor is moving to a retirement village.
AMP chief economist Dr Shane Oliver said Sydney’s clearance rate of 63.5 per cent is down slightly from last week.
7/68-70 Wrights Road, Drummoyne Credit: McGrath Hunters Hill
“We are in the run-up to Easter. So typically, selling activity tends to occur before Easter, and then after Easter, it slows off as we go into winter. So this is sort of the last of the strong weekends in terms of listing activity, but obviously buyer demand wasn’t that strong, and so we’re seeing demand cool off.”
Oliver said he believes Trump’s tariffs are starting to take a toll.
“There’s ongoing uncertainty around the election, but I think the big drag at present on buyer confidence is the uncertainty around the impact of Trump’s tariffs,” he said.