Plenty of interest but Blue Mountains stately home Leuralla fails to sell

Leuralla, the imposing 1914 Blue Mountains home, attracted plenty of interest online and four registered bidders but none chose to make an offer at the auction.

Leuralla at 43-69 Balmoral Road, Leura was passed in at auction.

Leuralla, the imposing 1914 Blue Mountains trophy home, was passed in on a $9m vendor bid when the Evatt family property was put to weekend auction.

Four generations have enjoyed the vast Leura home since its construction by big-game fisherman Harry Andreas, who had bought the land for £384 in 1899.

The Edwardian residence was auctioned by Craig Pontey of McGrath in conjunction with Christies International agent Darren Curtis.

Sunday’s onsite auction was held in 6.5C sunshine, under a bust of Vladimir Lenin, one of the many sculptures in the 2.22ha Paul Sorensen-designed gardens.

The listing had garnered 7834 page views on realestate.com.au during its marketing which attracted four registered bidders who declined to bid. One had arrived in a white Bentley.

The house with views over the Jamison Valley has a grand portico leading to the foyer and a staircase to the seven bedrooms. It features a music room and billiard room.

The house, which has French-polished Queensland maple panelling with an intricate fretwork of native plants, was the second house built by Andreas as his 1902 house was destroyed by bushfire in 1910.

The property sits on the corner of Balmoral Rd and Olympian Pde, named shortly after the Games of the first Olympiad in 1896.

Barrister and former member of the NSW legislative assembly Clive Evatt snr, brother of then Labor leader Herbert Evatt, had married the Andreas daughter, Marjorie, who secured Leuralla in 1955 after the death of E. P (Harry) Andreas.

Their son, the defamation barrister and art dealer Clive Evatt Jr along with his wife Elizabeth, subsequently transformed Leuralla into a toy museum which was closed in 2022 after his 2018 death.

It was offered by Clive jnr’s son, Victor.

It hit the market last November with expectations of fetching double-digit millions, which would have eclipsed the Blue Mountains record of $4.15m for the historic Wentworth Falls property, Carramar.

Leuralla’s inclusions include a 1933 bust ofLenin, leader of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution in Russia, which was recovered in the 1990s from a rubbish tip in St Petersburg after the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union.

Sydney snares top price

The nation’s top advised weekend auction result was at Strathfield in Sydney.

The recently completed five bedroom, five bathroom house with eight parking spaces at 166 The Boulevarde, fetched $6,462,500.

Its auction guide had been $5.9m from Michael Murphy and Christina Heng of McGrath Strathfield. The 689 sqm building block was bought in 2020 for $2,475,000.

Cordell Build give the construction value of $855,000 plus $24,739 for the pool.

It attracted 10,800-plus page views on realestate.com.au.

166 The Boulevarde, Strathfield sold for more than $6.4m.

There were four registered bidders and it was sold to a couple from Rosebery.

Sydney had a 75 per cent preliminary clearance rate, according to CoreLogic.

With 1,054 homes going under the hammer across Melbourne, the preliminary clearance rate rose to 70.2 per cent – the highest since the late May.

Melbourne’s top sale was at Canterbury when a four bedroom, three bathroom 1927 brick home sold for $3,450,000.

The 54 Highfield Rd home on 966 sqm was available for the first time in 43 years.

Brizzie’s big seller

Brisbane’s top sale under the hammer was when 62 Liverpool Rd, Clayfield sold to a local family for $4.33m through Ray White Clayfield agent Natalie Rasmussen.

The two-level contemporary five bedroom, five bathroom residence is on a 776 sqm block with internal access to a three-car garage.

Brisbane’s next priciest sale came pre-auction when 28 Nairn Street, Milton, sold for $4,011,000. Set on 834 sqm, the quintessential 1902 Queenslander home came with kitchen by Anna Spiro Design. It had 500 sqm of space, including five bedrooms, five bathrooms plus a study and nursery. It has original timber floors, VJ walls and 3.2m ceilings.

Brisbane had a preliminary clearance rate of 68.9 per cent.

Nation’s capital makes it mark

The top sale in the ACT was when a townhouse at 1/26 Empire Circuit, Forrest fetched $3.96m through Blackshaw Manuka agent Mario Sanfrancesco.

1/26 Empire Circuit, Forrest.

The three bedroom, four bedroom townhouse with a four-car basement garage plus lift access, had previously sold in 2022 for $2.9m.

The gated four townhouse complex was designed by Stewart Architecture.

The ACT had a 73.3 per cent preliminary success rate.

Adelaide tops early clearance rate

Adelaide’s top sale was a five-bedroom house at Tranmere that fetched $3,001,000.

The four bedroom, three bathroom house at 13 Emerson Grove sold through Sally Cameron at Toop + Toop.

Last sold in 2020 at $2.1m, it was designed with stone clad exterior by architects Piteo with interiors by Sofiaa Interior Design.

It secured 6,282 page views on realestate.com.au.

Adelaide had the nation’s top preliminary clearance rate of 88.9 per cent.

Rebound in auction activity

The number of homes going under the weekend hammer rebounded following the drop in auction volume due to the King’s Birthday long weekend.

Across the capitals there were 2232 auctions held, up from 1317.

It sat nearly 15 per cent higher than at the same time last year, according to CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless.

The preliminary combined capitals clearance rate bounced higher to 72.9 per cent, which was the strongest since early May. The previous week’s preliminary clearance rate was 67.3 per cent which was revised down to 62 per cent once final results were finalised.

“Despite the higher number of homes taken to market, clearance rates are looking resilient, suggesting demand is keeping up with the rise in vendor activity, ” Lawless said.

“The trend in auction markets lines up with the broader trend in new listings.”

70 Hampden Rd, Battery Point is expected to sell for more than $3.5m.

But volumes are varied across the states and territories.

At one end of the spectrum is Perth, with total private treaty and auction listings sitting 45 per cent below the five-year average stock levels. However Hobart has 39 per cent more listings than its five-year average.

The Hobart listings are headlined by Invercoe at Battery Point which has $3.5m-plus expectations.

Designed by Henry Hunter as a residence in 1883, the ashlar sandstone residence was built for James Murdoch, merchant and member of the Legislative Council.

The Victorian Gothic Invercoe is listed through Rorie M. Auld from Elders Tasmania and Dominic Romeo of Circa Heritage & Lifestyle with expressions of interest closing July 4. Every room has views of Mt Wellington. It has had 4900-plus page views on realestate.com.au since its marketing began this month.