By Sarah Webb
A Woollahra hoarder’s home changed hands for the first time in about 50 years on Saturday when it sold for $2.45 million under the hammer, well beyond its $1.85 million reserve.
The unrenovated two-bedroom terrace at 14 Rush Street is just steps from Queen Street village and drew seven active bidders. The auction began at $1.7 million and quickly became a showdown between a couple from the upper north shore and a local builder with deep pockets and grand plans for a major makeover.
“We honestly weren’t expecting this. With a reserve of $1.85 million, we thought maybe we’d get $2 million. But this blew us away,” said Ray White Woollahra selling agent Jack Taylor.
“But it came to the location and the street. There have been a few good sales here in the past couple of years, and that gave the bidders confidence.”
Taylor said the couple won the auction but he wasn’t sure what they planned to do with the home.
He said the property was sold as a deceased estate for beneficiaries in the UK and marked the end of a two-year saga in which his team cleared out hoarded belongings and navigated a maze of public trustee hurdles.
“No one had lived there for two years and it had been years since the owner had filed a tax return,” Taylor said. “It was a hoarder house and we had to empty the whole thing out, which took 10 loads to the tip.”
The property was one of 1042 scheduled to go to auction in Sydney this week. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 74.5 per cent from 643 reported results, while 112 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
In Dulwich Hill a young couple ended their year-long search for a family home when they splashed $2.8 million on a three-bedroom home.
The property at 54 Abergeldie Street had a price guide of $2.5 million and a reserve of $2.75 million. It had remained in the same family for almost four decades and sits on a 487-square-metre block.
While three registered bidders attended the auction, just two competed for the keys. Bidding opened at $2.5 million.
Adrian William Real Estate selling agent Joseph Ferreira said bids rose quickly in consistent $50,000 increments until the underbidders – another young upsizing couple – were forced to bow out.
He said the result underscored how tightly held homes in the pocket were, with many of them staying in the same family for decades.
“This is one of the best streets in Dulwich Hill and homes don’t come up like this very often,” said Ferreira.
“The buyers were keen to stay in this area but over the year they had been looking at surrounding suburbs. This was a great result for them.”
In Engadine a downsizing couple from Hurstville defied expectations by outbidding young upsizers from the inner west to secure a three-bedroom family home for $1,345,000.
Bidding for the property, which sits on a 644-square-metre block at 15 Dural Crescent, opened at $1.25 million and climbed to $1,315,000 in six bids before the underbidders dropped out.
Selling agent Rhys Christofa of McGrath then convinced the downsizers to bid against themselves and increase their bid to $1,345,000, just below the original $1.35 million reserve.
“Everyone loved the quiet street, reserve views and neat, single-level layout,” Christofa said.
“I thought it was a young family’s dream, but this shows you never know who your buyer is.”
Christofa said Engadine’s affordability and lifestyle had made it a magnet for out-of-area buyers.
“The inner west buyers told me they’d pay $3 million for the same home there,” he said.
A determined family splashed $3,715,000 on their dream home at 120 Koola Avenue, Killara, after almost 52 Saturdays of Wollongong-to-Sydney commutes. They paid well more than the $3.3 million reserve, outbidding two others.
The home features a 917-square-metre block near to national park trails. Bidding opened at $3.1 million and bids quickly pushed the price to $3.5 million, before two bidders traded $6000, $8000 and $10,000 blows until the hammer fell.
Ray White selling agent Jessica Cao said the winning family had been struggling to break into the Sydney market for months after deciding to move north for work and their children’s schooling.
“They were so happy and so relieved to get it. Can you imagine driving from Wollongong to Sydney every Saturday for a year with kids?” Cao said.