Jonathan Chancellor’s auction wrap: Sydney dives back into property with a Rozelle warehouse

Sydney’s favourite weekend sport – auctions – is firing again and sales are now at their best level since April.

38 Foucart Street, Rozelle

Sydney has clearly shrugged off its winter pandemic blues.

Auction volumes across the city are now at the highest level since early April with 815 Sydney homes taken to auction, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 74 per cent. And with more than a hint of another round of interest rate cuts in coming months, this is enough to get auctions — Sydney’s favourite weekend sport — firing.

Sales included an 1880 Rozelle warehouse, once used for making tin buckets. The latest incarnation of 38 Foucart Street is a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home with a huge sense of space with the rafters and cathedral ceiling. The CBD can be viewed through its double mid-level doors. McGrath agent Cindy Kennedy had offered a $2.5m guide and secured $2.7m with just two bidders.

38 Foucart Street, Rozelle, NSW 2039

Sydney’s inner west saw an 80 per cent success rate. My Housing Market economist Andrew Wilson pinpointed Sydney’s northwest as the strongest market at 83 per cent, with the west the weakest at 63 per cent.

There were 1107 capital city homes taken to auction over the past week, with a preliminary 70 per cent success rate. CoreLogic noted the revised national 67 per cent rate for the prior week was the highest final clearance rate since early March.

This time last year there was a resurgent 71 per cent final clearance rate.

Vaucluse Manor

The $24.6m Vaucluse home sale by the family of the late Japanese billionaire Akihito Terada easily exceeded its last sale price of $11.7m in 2013.

The 2009-built home of the late 1960s founder of the Japanese healthcare services company Nichii Gakkan was in a poor state, but offered a three-level opportunity on its dress circle 1085sq m Vaucluse Road holding.

“It was an astounding price,” its Sotheby’s International selling agent Michael Pallier told Competing Bids.

“There’s a big appetite for Australian property,” he said, referring to the winning young Australian Chinese family ­competing against 10 other Chinese families, including several bidding from China.

After its $13m opening offer, bidding only paused when Pallier told the gathering the result had smashed the previous auction record of $23m when the French embassy sold Le Manoir, a grand Georgian house in Bellevue Hill in 2009.

Social distancing just didn’t happen with over 150 inside attendees counted by Competing Bids at the blockbuster event.

“We kept asking them — they really should have,” Pallier said.

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There were just the 10 homes sold at auction across Melbourne on Saturday as the pandemic lockdown continued its bleak impact on the Victorian real estate industry.

But partial relief came on Sunday with private inspections now permitted so long as buyers meet the continuing 5km travel restrictions.

Melbourne’s top digital auction result was a nondescript one-bedroom North Melbourne terrace. Tipped to sell for between $660,000 and $700,000, it fetched $707,000 through Jellis Craig agent Jerome Feery.

“The home requires updates throughout, however is liveable as is,” Feery told buyers.

Having last sold at $266,000 in 2002, it went to a first-home buyer with bids coming from three of the 14 bidders registered for the Zoom auction.

10 Little Leveson Street, North Melbourne.

Of course the last Saturday in September is always a subdued day in the Spring auction calendar given the traditional distraction of the AFL grand final.

On the same Saturday last year there were a subdued 32 sales totalling $27m. Agents instead pile their auctions into the weekend prior to the big game.

“Melbourne has virtually stopped with very low listings and only a handful of sales,” Shane Oliver, the chief economist at AMP Capital, told Competing Bids.

“It’s likely to see a bounce in activity when reopening occurs, reflecting pent-up sales and demand, but pricing is likely to remain weak, reflecting the hit to businesses, jobs and confidence from its extreme lockdown.

“The federal government looks keen to limit any price falls and drive a recovery next year with the removal of bank responsible lending obligations and more stimulus measures likely in the budget,” Oliver added.

Packer in Canberra

Despite Melbourne’s woes, Queensland was the weakest weekend auction market with a 48 per cent clearance rate, according to realestate.com.au.

Canberra is far and away the strongest of auction markets with its success rate at 94 per cent.

Coming up for sale is a modernist Canberra home, built in Red Hill in 1959 to a design by architect John Allen of Allen Jack+Cottier.

It was the Canberra base of the Consolidated Press Holdings media mogul Sir Frank Packer, Berkeley Real Estate listing agent Bill Lyristakis advised.

The home sits on a 4085sq m Vancouver Street holding with an official $2,859,000 land value.

The 15 buying parties at Sunday’s first open for inspection were told around $5m was being sought for the 285sq m five-bedroom home.

Another Red Hill address, on Mugga Way, has also been credited as being the periodic base of Sir Frank in the 1940s.

5 Vancouver Street, Red Hill, ACT.

Land Grab

Back down in Victoria, land has been the best-selling property offering given the ease of which buyers can do their due diligence. There were 16 land sales posted on realestate.com.au on Saturday.

Sales included $67,000 at Loch Sport, 4km to The Ninety Mile Beach, which was marketed as having a powered caravan and a brick barbecue.

It last sold at $45,000 in 2013.

Recent land sales include the 1865sq m tennis court block at Melaluna on Duffy Road, Portsea which was offered with house plans by architect Pandolfini.

It was the veteran property player Jonathan ‘‘Jonno’’ Edgar, known for his tennis tournament and parties, who had built Melaluna after its two blocks of land cost $7000 in the early 1970s. The entire 4020sq m Melaluna estate, listed in early 2019 for the first time since 1985, had initial $4m to $4.4m price guidance.

The north-south championship-size tennis court is surrounded by Moonah trees with a sports pavilion.

The four-bedroom bluestone house estate was offered by the Heffernan family, who paid $375,000 some 35 years ago.

Portsea has been pinpointed as the state’s top luxury house price growth location since May, with 9 per cent median price growth to $2.2m, according to realestate.com.au.

Middle Park’s 5 per cent growth to $2.6m was the next best performing prestige suburb.

Only suburbs with a median price over $2m were included on the top 10 list, which was led by Collaroy and Woollahra.

Up North

Hillstone Farm, at Bangalow outside Byron Bay, sold last week at a record price for the North Coast’s hinterland market, with the buyer apparently from NSW.

The price hasn’t been confirmed but it was listed with $11m hopes earlier this month through Jeremy Bennett of Byron Bay Property Sales.

The contemporary four-bedroom residence was designed by its vendor architect Dean Lewis and his wife, nutritionist Sally, who are off to Bali. They bought the 24-hectare property in 2016 for $2.4m.

The hinterland market’s prior top sale was $10m for Cape Retreat, a 21 hectare Brunswick Heads property bought by Terry Davis, the former Coca-Cola Amatil director in 2018.

Hillstone Farm, Bangalow, NSW.