By Kristy Johnson and Tawar Razaghi
Collette Dinnigan’s former Paddington home sold at auction on Saturday for $12.1 million to a family upsizing within the suburb.
The fashion designer purchased the four-bedroom, three-bathroom cottage at 75 Paddington Street in 2009 for $4.45 million and sold it in 2015 for $6.5 million.
Maclay Longhurst of Sydney Sotheby’s International Realty said the reserve was “around the $11 million guide”.
The Paddington auction was one of 830 auctions in Sydney on Saturday. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 59.5 per cent from 790 reported results, while 179 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
All three registered bidders were active and consisted of two upsizing families from the suburb and a downsizer from the eastern suburbs.
Bidding opened at $11 million and rose in increments of $100,000.
Longhurst said homes of this nature in Paddington are popular as they are rare commodities. The suburb’s median house price rose 3.2 per cent to $3.2 million in the year to June, on Domain data.
In South Turramurra, upsizers from the lower and upper north shore competed for a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home with pool that sold for $3.21 million.
The successful buyer of the four-bedroom house 3 Eden Avenue was an upsizing couple from the suburb. They outbid couples upsizing from the lower and upper north shore, as well as a Ryde family.
The property last sold for $2,705,000 in 2021, records show. The guide was $2.7 million. Ray White Upper North Shore’s Liana Power declined to reveal the exact reserve but said it was “around $3 million”.
An opening bid of $2.6 million started the auction and rose in varying increments from $50,000 down to $10,000 until the hammer fell.
Power described the market in South Turramurra as neutral and not in favour of buyers or sellers. “There’s a lot of choice for buyers regarding stock, however, the prices have remained pretty stable,” she said.
In St Clair, half a dozen investors battled it out for a “holy grail” property that sold under the hammer for $1,352,000.
A South Turramurra couple placed the winning bid of $3.21 million for a home in the suburb at auction on Saturday.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
The seven-bedroom, three-bathroom property, which includes a house and a granny flat, at 17&17A Rainbow Place had no price guide because it had so few comparables. It last sold for $720,000, records show, the price almost doubling in less than a decade.
There were 15 registered bidders and nine active. Only two of the nine were owner-occupiers, the remaining investors from the inner west and bordering suburbs of St Clair.
The opening bid was $1.2 million and the auction stalled at $1,325,000 – short of the reserve of $1.33 million. A vendor bid was considered, but Borg recommended putting it on the market.
Bidding picked up again between four parties who traded in $5000 and then $2000 increments.
The winning buyer plans to renovate the property and put it on the rental market. The vendor was also an investor who renovated the property after significant damage by the last tenants.
“A house with a granny flat in a corner position is an investor’s dream,” Borg said. “It’s the holy grail. The dwellings can be knocked down to make way for a brand-new duplex, subject to council approval.”
Borg said the property drew significant interest from investors during a three-week campaign due to the proposed St Mary’s metro.
“We have launched around four properties in the suburb per week, and they’re selling. Even with rising interest rates, buyers still want an area where they can bury their money in the backyard, come back five years later and see that it’s grown. St Clair and the neighbouring suburbs are definitely on the radar.”
In Five Dock a townhouse at 4/45 Waterview Street sold for $1,561,000 – the price rising almost five times since it last sold in 2000.
The two-bedroom property had a guide of $1.45 million throughout the campaign, and three registered bidders – all young professional couples. The reserve was $1.54 million.
Bidding opened at $1.4 million and rose in $20,000-to-$50,000 increments before it slowed down to $1000 bids.
It eventually sold to a young professional couple who wanted to be close to the city and the new metro.
PRB Real Estate’s Joe Rizzo said it was a great result in a difficult market that is impacted by higher-for-longer interest rates.
“In this climate, where things are a little bit challenging, it achieved a great result,” Rizzo said. “Especially at this level. At the top end of town you really don’t feel the pinch. But at this level you tend to deal with a smaller buyer pool. Getting a good result like this, we were lucky to have three active bidders, hence the result.”