Charred Timber House tops charts in Canberra with $2.44m sale

Canberra’s top weekend auction price was $2.44m when an acclaimed contemporary home sold in Ainslie.

Charred Timber House in Ainslie was Canberra’s top sale at the weekend.

Canberra’s top weekend auction price was $2.44m when an acclaimed contemporary home sold in Ainslie.

Designed over three levels, the 2019-built home comes with a distinctive dark facade of Japanese-inspired Shou Sugi Ban cladding. There’s also recycled hardwood timber screening on its double carport which was made from the roof battens of the prior cottage.

The four-bedroom, two-bathroom Raymond St offering became known in architectural circles as the Charred Timber House after its design by architect Rob Henry and construction by Chris Walmsley.

It was sold by Holly Komorowski from the boutique estate agency home.by holly whose marketing on realestate.com.au attracted over 3000 views, using 2020 photography by Ben King, the architecture and interior specialist.

Five of nine registered bidders competed at its online auction.

The home was an open house in the 2019 DESIGN Canberra Festival, which celebrated the city’s architectural landscape, with Komorowski advising that many of the initial potential buyers had already been through the property in 2019.

In line with amended ACT government guidelines, estate agents have been allowed to conduct in-person house inspections since September 18.

Each inspection must be limited to 15 minutes, with an interval of 15 minutes between appointments and a total of two hours on a property per day – so only four buyers a day.

The regulations were also amended to allow for one person to enter a property for filming and photography, as long as no one else is present.

The solar passive design of the home delivers northerly light into its living areas and bedrooms, while allowing for cross-ventilation via its southerly windows through the 340sq m house.

It achieves a 7.8 energy efficiency rating, coming with water collection to offset energy consumption.

Heat pump hydronic slab heating and a wood combustion heater make the house comfortable in the Canberra winter.

Charred Timber House is also known for its laneway mural by artist Claire Foxton which adorns the carport wall, featuring a child’s face, an acknowledgment to the prior cottage being home to Barbara Matthews, an early childhood educator. The 759sq m block cost $600,000 in 2013 when the vendors bought the site from their great aunt.

Canberra was the second-strongest weekend capital city auction market, according to CoreLogic, behind Adelaide but ahead of Sydney, with all three having strong preliminary auction clearance rates above 80 per cent.

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Jockeying for position

The nation’s highest advised weekend auction result came when the former dual Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Darren Beadman and his wife, life coach Kim, secured $5.95m for their Northbridge home.

There were 62 bids during the 37 minute auction, but there were just two bidders after the second bid at $5.2m. Buyers had been given a $5m guide for the five- bedroom, three-bathroom bungalow by Matt Lah­ood and Rick Woodward at The Agency.

The couple built the stylish home after they paid $1.52m in 2009.

According to realestate.com.au, there were just three house listings in the suburb during its marketing, which jumped to eight with an influx late last week.

Beadman has been at Godolphin stables since 2014, currently as head of race day operations, so he went from the auction to Rosehill to oversee Anamoe’s second place finish in the Golden Rose.

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Pre-auction action

Sydney pre-auctions outdid under-the-hammer sales by 345 to 276. The pre-auction sales included a $7.25m four-bedroom Bronte home designed by Nick Bell Architects that sold through PPD Real Estate in conjunction with Richardson & Wrench.

The Evans St home was rebuilt in 2014 at an $800,000 estimated cost by Andrew Shrimpton, scion of the founder of the blue-collar labour hire and training firm, Ashley Services Group, after its acquisition in early 2014 at $2.05m.

Shrimpton has recently embarked on a coffee franchising business.

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13 Nelson Street, Annandale, a warehouse conversion, sold for $2.8m.

A piece of history

An Annandale warehouse conversion has been sold at auction for $2,806,500. The three-bedroom, one-bathroom property had a $2m auction guide through BresicWhitney and then a $2.3m reserve. Seven of the 20 registered buyers placed over 70 bids at the online auction.

It had garnered 5475 page views on realestate.com.au.

It was originally the Australian Contingent Hotel, the venue of meetings by the Annandale National Protection Association in the 1880s, tackling the issue of free trade between the colonies of NSW and Victoria.

At the time NSW was known as the “free trade” colony and Victoria as the “protectionist” colony.

The 250sq m 13 Nelson Street abode last sold to the Lester family for $1m in 2011.

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Grand final fever

Melbourne’s top sale was a grand 1940s Balwyn North house that fetched $2.96m.

The auction saw five bidders who took the sale price of the refurbished four-bedroom house past its $2.7m reserve. The pre-auction guide had been $2.4m to $2.6m.

Jellis Craig selling agent Mark Salvati marketed the Fortuna Ave home on its 724sq m block as in the prestigious Balwyn high school zone. It last sold at $1.9m in 2017, with $130,000 alterations approved by council in 2019.

The ANZ price predictor website REALas was awry with its $2.45m price guide, with the website now offering the caveat that its estimates may not take into account all of the property features.

25 Fortuna Avenue, Balwyn North, fetched $2.96m.

There was another $2.96m sale in Camberwell. They were two of the 200 auctions scheduled in Melbourne on AFL grand final day, traditionally a quiet auction weekend. It was busier than the 90-auction average over the past 12 years, given the absence of the game from Melbourne and its night-time scheduling, along with the pent-up keenness by vendors to go to auction amid the slight easing in lockdown restrictions.

Of the Melbourne results CoreLogic advised just 16 per cent were withdrawn, with the 77 per cent preliminary clearance rate the highest since May. Some 37 per cent were sold prior to auction.

“Vendor confidence is improving,” Tim Lawless at CoreLogic said.

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Three-level luxury

Brisbane developer Anthony Barakat sold his three-level Hamilton home at auction last week after strong bidding saw the price soar to $7.5m.

There was interest from interstate, international, expatriate and local parties, but just three bidders competed until a local family won the keys through Ray White agent Damon Warat.

The six-bedroom, five-bathroom house sits elevated on Dickson Terrace with views across the city. The house had been built by Barakat in the early 2000s before it was sold for $5m in 2012. He bought it back five years later for $5,250,000.