A Redfern terrace has sold to a neighbour for $1.86 million, with the investor outbidding first home buyers at the auction on NSW election day.
Eleven buyers registered to bid on the three-bedroom home at 815 Bourke Street, which attracted interest from a mix of first home buyers, investors and builders due to approved plans that could turn it into a four-bedroom, two-bathroom terrace.
The home had a price guide of $1,375,000 and some first home buyers were hopeful it would sell below $1.5 million so they could swap stamp duty for the Coalition’s new annual property tax – the future of which was hanging in the balance on election day.
The terrace was one of 659 Sydney homes scheduled for auction on Saturday. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 68.5 per cent from 438 reported results, while 86 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
The bidding began at $1.3 million and quickly soared above $1.5 million, due to spirited competition from five active buyers. The contest came down to a first home buyer couple and an investor, who already lived on the street.
First home buyers Dane Brujic and his partner were competing until the final moments of the auction.Credit: Peter Rae
The 130-square-metre block sold to the investor, who owns a neighbouring property, for $1.86 million. The reserve was $1.5 million. The sellers were also investors who live in Melbourne.
The underbidder, Dane Brujic, said the market was stronger than expected and it was still difficult for first home buyers, like his young family, to get their foot in the door.
“The market is still really strong and it’s pretty hard to get into [it],” said the portfolio manager who had just returned from living in London.
Brujic said they had a substantial loan pre-approved but were mindful of overextending themselves.
“We know so many people who are in situations now where they’re in hardship and trying to change their lifestyles in order to keep paying their mortgage, they spent too much on their property and we’re really conscious of not doing that ourselves,” Brujic said.
A large crowd gathered to watch the Redfern terrace go under the hammer.Credit: Peter Rae
He was not concerned that the Coalition’s property tax could face the chopping block if they lost the election, as he felt the $1.5 million eligibility threshold was low.
But for Imogen Baxter, another first home buyer who missed out at the auction, the stamp duty reform had factored into her purchasing plans with her partner.
“[We’ve] been renters in the city for nearly 10 years, and we have been saving a deposit for nearly 10 years,” Baxter said.
“I would like to see the stamp duty reform remain in place and I would also like to see, at a federal level, more progressive action on the broad housing crisis, particularly for at-risk communities.
Imogen Baxter, with her dog Louis, was another first home buyer who missed out.Credit: Peter Rae
“We need more social and affordable housing, and we need an end to tax policies that heavily incentivise investment opportunities at the expense of first home buyers.”
Selling agent Brad Gillespie of The Agency Eastern Suburbs said the sheer lack of homes on the market was fuelling better-than-expected results.
“I haven’t had a dogged auction like that for quite some time. From our perspective, it’s over-achieved and that’s because of the lack of stock. If there were more homes around, there wouldn’t have been 11 registered buyers,” Gillespie said. “These are the best prices we’ve had in 14 months.”
Records show the home last traded for $825,000 in 2012, the price more than doubling since then.
Redfern’s median house price dropped 11.3 per cent to $1.65 million in 2022 on Domain data.
In Roseville Chase, a full brick house at 9 Rowe Street sold for $2.84 million to a family buying their first Australian home.
Nine buyers registered to bid on the four-bedroom house that was guided at $2.45 million.
While the auction was slow to start at $2.3 million, it eventually worked its way past its $2.6 million reserve, thanks to three active bidders, and sold under the hammer shortly after.
Ray White Upper North Shore’s Jessica Cao said the buyers were a mature family who were well established overseas but were renting in Roseville.
“There is a lot of buyer activity in the area. It’s a really strong auction given the economy and interest rate increases,” Cao said.
Roseville’s median house price increased 0.2 per cent to $3.75 million last year.
In Miranda, artist Joel Moore, known as Mulga, sold his property at 11 Calliope Road for $2.17 million.
The four-bedroom home was guided at $1.85 million and drew eight registered bidders. Five of them competed, and bidding started bang on the guide.
The house sold for $170,000 above the reserve to a young couple upgrading from a Maroubra apartment.
Pulse Property Agents’ Ben Pike said houses in the Sutherland Shire were defying the market downturn, drawing interest from eastern suburbs and other out-of-area buyers seeking better value for money.
The property last traded for $1.26 million in 2016, records show.
Miranda’s median house price slid 3.5 per cent to $1.46 million in 2022.