By Kristy Johnson
A lady from Eastwood paid $3.76 million at auction on Saturday for a Lindfield home with a pool that she intends to knock down, rebuild and live in.
The four-bedroom, three-bathroom property at 54 Highfield Road was guided at $3.5 million. Ray White Upper North Shore’s Jessica Cao said the vendors were flexible with the reserve, setting it at $3.75 million to $3.8 million.
All three registered bidders were active. Bidding was slow to start with an eventual offer of $3.5 million. The buyer outbid a lady who inspected the home for the first time just minutes prior, and a developer from St Ives.
The property was one of 1402 scheduled to go to auction in Sydney this week. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 66.0 per cent from 848 reported results throughout the week, while 187 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
The property is described as newly refreshed on the listing.
An owner-occupier paid $3.76 million at auction on Saturday for a Lindfield home that will be knocked down.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
Cao said there was great interest in the property with 120 groups at open homes. However, she has noticed some buyer hesitancy in the upper north shore market.
“I think some buyers are on the fence. The key question is whether they are going to buy now or wait,” she said.
The home last sold for $2.18 million in 2015. Lindfield’s median house price rose 6.1 per cent to $3,935,000 in the year to December on Domain data.
In Tempe, a home that was offered for the first time in more than 93 years sold for $1,614,000 to investors who had been searching for a property in Tempe for two years.
The three-bedroom, one-bathroom property at 21 Station Street was guided at $1.4 million and its reserve set at $1.47 million.
There were six registered bidders and four active. The investors outbid young families and first-home buyers from the inner west.
The opening bid was $1.35 million and rose in varying increments. BresicWhitney Inner West’s Louise Mitchell said the vendor had gone into a nursing home.
“It’s a solid brick home that’s well maintained and close to parks,” Mitchell said. Interiors feature pastel wallpaper and retro tiles, and there’s a hills hoist in the yard.
Mitchell said Tempe flies under the radar and is a more affordable inner west pocket. “It’s a good price point for that region within 10 kilometres of the CBD.”
Tempe’s median house price rose 7.8 per cent to $1.65 million in the year to December on Domain data.
In Glebe, a combined home and office space sold for $2.5 million to a Balmain family that plans to convert it into a home.
The four-bedroom, one-bathroom, three-storey terrace at 139 St Johns Road has a retail and commercial space on the ground floor and bedrooms on the upper levels.
The property had a guide of $2 million. Ray White Glebe’s Matthew Carvalho declined to reveal the reserve but said it was “in line with buyer feedback, which was in the early $2 millions”.
All three registered bidders were active. The buyers were renting in Balmain after living in New Zealand for five years. They have two daughters in their twenties. They outbid architects from the inner west who intended to use the ground floor as an office and live upstairs.
Bidding was slow to begin, with an eventual offer of $1.9 million. From there, bids rose in varying increments.
Carvalho, who sold the property with Ray White Commercial City Fringe’s Kristian Morris, said mixed-use properties appeal to a certain demographic.
Carvalho said the slow start was likely due to bidding tactics and not the impending federal election or next rates decision on April 1.
“The tempo we’re seeing out in the market this year is buyers are a bit more calculated with the way they are bidding,” he said.
The property last sold for $365,000 in 1990. Glebe’s median house price declined 5.3 per cent to $2.5 million in the year to December on Domain data.
In Gladesville, a home that was offered for the first time in more than 70 years sold for $2.45 million to an owner-occupier from Ryde.
The three-bedroom, one-bathroom, deceased estate at 33 Albert Street was guided at $2.25 million, which was also its reserve.
There were six registered bidders, two of them active. The buyer went back and forth with a family who were keen to get into the Gladesville market.
The auction began with a vendor bid of $2.1 million and rose in varying increments.
Cassidy Real Estate’s Neil Robson said a federal election has never had an impact on the residential property market.
“I’ve never seen a federal election have any impact on house prices in Sydney. It might have an impact on commercial or industrial properties,” he said.
Gladesville’s median house price rose 6.6 per cent to $2.8 million in the year to December on Domain data.