Signs of a recovery in big city property markets
Weekend auctions resumed after the Easter break, with continued market strength. Sometimes the first pause of the annual sales calendar prompts a negative rethink, but not this year.
Weekend auctions resumed after the Easter break, with continued market strength. Sometimes the first pause of the annual sales calendar prompts a negative rethink, but not this year.
The national weekend preliminary clearance rate sat at 69.8 per cent, slightly higher than the 68.8 per cent four-week average leading up to Easter average, according to CoreLogic. There were three capital cities with 70 per cent-plus success rates last week, including the majors, Melbourne on 72.4 per cent, Sydney on 72 per cent and Adelaide on 70.4 per cent.
Corelogic’s Tim Lawless calculated that rising values were showing up in the pricier markets more so than the cheaper ones. The lift in housing values was most evident in Sydney’s upper-quartile house market, up 2 per cent last month after having the largest drop from the peak of any capital city market segment.
Drummoyne dream
The nation’s top trophy home sale on the weekend was $7.05m in Sydney’s inner west at Drummoyne. The two-storey 2015-built home had come with a $6.5m price guide through Daniel Patterson and Chad Egan at CobdenHayson.
The five-bedroom, four-bathroom home that overlooks Five Dock Bay from The Esplanade attracted three registered bidders after 79 buying parties inspected it, with 14 taking contracts. The home was marketed as being “at the cul-de-sac end of Drummoyne’s premier street”. Its 556sq m grounds came with solar-heated mosaic-tiled pool and an outdoor mosaic-tiled shower. The holding had been bought by the Chehab family from lawyer Greg Keating in 1995 for $580,000.
“The owners achieved a strong result … the energy at the auction was similar to what we were experiencing in 2021,” Patterson said.
A contemporary Strathfield trophy home went under offer prior to its scheduled auction after spending the better part of a year on the market. The sale price has not been disclosed but it had a recent $5m guide through Belle Property. The earlier guidance for the 2016-built home designed by Bechara Chan & Associates with five bedrooms and four bathrooms at 6 Barker Road had been $5m to $5.5m.
Memory lane
Adelaide’s top sale was also on an esplanade overlooking water. The $3,709,000 sale was for the tightly held two-storey 1950s beachside home at 190 Esplanade, South Brighton.
The timewarp house, fitted out with music and film memorabilia, was offered through Jessica Crane and Bronte Manuel of Toop & Toop Real Estate.
The trophy home had been the weekender of Ray Beale, the late cameraman and magician who was described in a 1990 Adelaide Advertiser article by Mike Kent as of “one of Adelaide’s chameleons”.
Beale, aged 21, bought a 16mm Bolex movie camera for $65, and shortly after one of his earliest career highlights was making a documentary of The Beatles’ 1964 tour.
“190 Esplanade is instantly recognisable … with its Audrey Hepburn mural, surfboards fitted to the facade and beach lounges on the front lawn,” the marketing states.
Prestige unit
It was a riverfront apartment in Brisbane that scored the nation’s second highest weekend sale price. The 2008-built, five-bedroom, three-bathroom Macquarie St, Teneriffe apartment was sold by developer David Blanck for $6.55m.
Some eight of the 11 registered bidders were active when auctioned by Matt Lancashire and Pat Goldsworthy from Ray White New Farm.
“Four of them bidding over $6m is good sign for the Brisbane prestige market,” Lancashire said.
“I am anticipating that we’ll have a strong winter too,” he added.
Set in the Kevin Seymour-developed One Macquarie complex, the ground floor apartment came with lawn and gardens. There was 329sq m internal space and 160sq m exterior space. With 32m of river frontage, plus four car spaces, it last traded at $3.7m in 2017, having first sold off the plan at $4.3m in 2006.
It’s been bought by dog owners coming from Wilston.
There was also the $5m sale of the Hendra abode of horse trainer Caitlin Lavin and her husband Matthew Hoysted.
Their Hamptons-inspired home on Newmarket St had been bought for $3.65m in early 2021 after its rebuild by developer Anthony Fuge. The six-bedroom, six bathroom house on 1012sq m secured another suburb record.
Its Place Ascot agents Jill Wright and Patrick McKinnon had seven registered bidders after 86 inspections.
Its pool house with accommodation had previously been stables, home to Bore Head, winner of the Queensland (1963), Ipswich (1964), Caulfield (1965), Australian and Doomben (1967) cups for trainer Ron Dillon.
Sunny days
A Sunshine Beach home sold for $5.65m after 33 years of ownership. The 37 McAnnally Drive offering was knocked down to Brisbane buyers by Tom Offerman Real Estate agent Peter TeWhata against competition from interstate and overseas.
It was offered by the original owners. “The buyers had been waiting several years for the right property,” TeWhata said.
There were pricier listings in Queensland, which did not secure weekend auction buyers.
The offering at 87 The Sovereign Mile, Sovereign Islands, a tri-level waterfront, now comes with a $7.7m asking price through Amir Mian and Mitchell Booth of Amir Mian Prestige. There had been $8m-plus hopes for the 2008-built, six-bedroom, six-bathroom house late last year, with another agency.
Melbourne marvel
With a lack of premium auction stock, Melbourne’s top advised sale was a four-bedroom townhouse on Danks St, Albert Park, which fetched $2.96m.
The four-level Mirvac-built, Laureate Albert Park contemporary space had been listed with $2.45m to $2.6m hopes through Jellis Craig Port Phillip agent Warwick Gardiner by sports administrator Tracey Gaudry, the dual Olympian cyclist.
It last sold in late 2012 at $1.8m, having first sold new in 2011 at $2,138,100.
For sale
The fresh listings just outside of Melbourne include Sanders Wood, the striking French-style villa at Hesket in the Macedon Ranges.
Accessed through an ancient woodland, the four-bedroom farmhouse sits on 32ha. There’s 4ha of garden and 12ha of grazing land for horses or cattle.
Its been listed by Vannese and Bruce Siney who paid $800,000 in 1999 to Quentin Madden, the late Toorak interior designer and socialite.
The couple, parents of caterer Chyka Keebaugh, were regulars in the social columns of Lillian Frank and Peter Janson over the decades. Vannese was a fashion designer and stylist and Bruce was a longtime marketing director at Fosters Brewery.
Sanders Wood has been listed through Beverley Higgsfrom RT Edgar with $5.5m to $6m expectations.
Slowdown
PropTrack economist Anne Flaherty says the number of scheduled auctions remains “relatively low”. Last week saw around 1900 auctions across the nation, with around 1800 scheduled for this week.
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