An “uninhabitable” three-bedroom terrace home in Bondi Junction sold for $2.72 million after 16 developers showed up to the auction.
Only six ended up bidding, the dilapidated property at 170 Birrell Street considered “too much work” by the agent for everyday buyers.
The heritage conservation home had a guide of $2 million to $2.2 million and a reserve of $2.2 million, and the final bid was well above expectations.
Cooley Auctions auctioneer Jake Moore opened proceedings with a tongue-in-cheek welcome to the “ready to move in, turn-key” property to the chuckles of the crowd on the street.
After he had pointed out features such as its “external curtains,” bidding opened at $2,050,000 – already $50,000 above the vendor’s initial $2 million hopes.
The six active bidders then quickly took offers to $520,000 above reserve, seeing the property selling within just four minutes.
The home was uninhabitable but still sold well above reserve,Credit: Belle Property Bondi Junction
Belle Property’s Edward Brown said the vendor, who had owned it since 1979, had asked him “do you think somebody would pay me $2 million for this?” when they met.
Brown said he told him he was sure he could get “a bit more” despite the work needed to make the property livable.
“Everybody who was trying to do a small renovation to it just discarded it and said it’s just too much work, which it was,” Brown said. “You’ve got to really know what you’re doing … to be able to do a renovation to that magnitude.”
The property was one of 1304 scheduled to go to auction in Sydney over the weekend. Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 65.2 per cent from 816 reported results, while 191 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
In Campbelltown, another “renovators delight” at 12 Reddall Street sold for $1,001,000 after 39 bidders, including builders, renovators and first home buyers registered for a chance to buy the three-bedroom home.
Ten bidders competed for the home which had a guide of $695,000 to $755,000. Offers opened at $680,000.
The sale price hit $1 million after 52 bids and 25 minutes and the crowd was laughing. The house sold for $1,001,000 under the hammer, nearly $300,000 above its $710,000 reserve.
LJ Hooker’s John Zheng said “the neighbours, the owners, everybody [was] so happy. Nothing sold over a million dollars on this street, especially at this condition. This house is really run down. No renovation [has] been done in [the] last 50 years.”
“People always like to buy a piece of land, rather than a unit, and to be able to buy a house in Campbelltown is like [to] buy a one bedroom in the city,” he said.
The house last traded for $162,000 in 1994, records show.
In Darlinghurst, a two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit was snapped up by an expat represented by a friend. The flat with a parking spot at 3/94 Surrey Street was guided at $1.6 million.
Bidding started at $1.55 million and quickly took off with three in the ring. Increments of $25,000, $10,000 and $15,000 were offered until the price soared above its $1.75 million reserve and reached $1.8 million. An additional $1000 was called for and then a final $1000 bid secured the property for $1,812,000.
BresicWhitney’s Darren Pearce said all buyers were owner-occupiers seeking to move in.
“It’s nice to see something with really high ceilings, old timber floorboards, really lovely balcony. It feels like an apartment you’d have in the country,” Pearce said.
“Apartments are definitely selling quite well, I feel. And so are the houses in the crossover between Darlinghurst and Surry Hills we’re seeing as the market is actually very active,” he said.
The expat buyer had flown from Asia during week one of the campaign but wasn’t at the auction. The vendor was selling their investment property.
The home last traded for $1.5 million in 2017, records show.
AMP chief economist Dr Shane Oliver said Sydney’s clearance rate of 65.2 per cent appeared subdued.
“It seems to be the same story that the interest rate cut that we had back in February provided a boost and helped the clearance rate … but since then, through much of March, and now going into April, it looks sort of cooled off again.”
Oliver said the election could be another factor influencing the clearance rate.
“The property market is still stronger than it was late last year thanks to lower rents and the prospect of more to come, but it’s not taking it off. Buyers look to me to be fairly cautious,” he said.
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