Top sale comes at a loss for Melbourne prestige mansion

Melbourne scored the nation’s highest advised weekend auction result, but it was at a significant loss.

36 Dawson Avenue, Brighton was sold post-auction for an unreported $8.5m.

The Double Bay apartment of the retired finance columnist Trevor Sykes has been listed for March 3 auction.

Michael Pallier and Mary Lin at Sotheby’s International have issued $4.5m guidance for the home of the acclaimed Pierpont columnist.

The three-bedroom, two-bathroom Manning Road apartment has a 390sq m layout with a wraparound garden. It comes with a home office.

The residence, a level walk to the village shops, is in a pet-friendly complex with a shared pool.

Sykes had downsized when paying $3.2m in 2016 with Daya, his wife of six decades, after they pocketed $2.8m for their Woollahra house, which not unsurprisingly came with a decent cellar, and decorative old share scrip as office wallpaper.

The three-bedroom, two-bathroom Manning Road apartment has a 390sq m layout with a wraparound garden.

Born in 1937, Sykes wrote eight books covering everything from the Poseidon nickel boom to the Global Financial Crisis.

He started work in 1952 as a 16-year-old copyboy with the ­Adelaide Advertiser newspaper group and became a finance journalist at the Melbourne Sun News Pictorial in the 1960s.

He created Pierpont in 1972, and won a legal win against Fairfax in 1977 when he sought to take the Pierpont column title name across to Kerry Packer’s The Bulletin.

With him went the Croesus Club, formed in Sykes’ mind, which featured the mythical company, Blue Sky Mines, figurehead company chairman Sir Mark Time, Spender the accountant, geologist Bottle, and the dishonest company secretary Penwiper.

When back at Fairfax, his last regular Pierpont column was published in 2005 with a few periodic forays coming until 2014.

Top sale … at a loss

Melbourne scored the nation’s highest advised weekend auction result, but it was at a significant loss.

Just two houses from the beach, it has been owned through the decades by a who’s who of bayside families.

The Brighton house was sold post-auction at an unreported $8.5m by Hubei, China-born local Ella Liang at $1m less than its $9.5m purchase last February when offered by Eunjung Kim, whose family had paid $5.25m in 2009.

The five-bedroom, four bathroom 36 Dawson Avenue home comes with a rooftop terrace with bay views, equipped with a hot tub spa and barbecue kitchen.

Marshall White agent Andy Nasr, who had it listed for 88 days with $8m to $8.8m price guidance, said it was passed it in at $8.35m.

There were 13,281 page views for the offering that the Herald Sun advised was bought by a client of the Morrell and Koren buyers agency.

Just two houses from the beach, it has been owned through the decades by a who’s who of bayside families including the Kestelmans and Columbs.

Melbourne recorded the largest number of auctions among the capitals, with 685 auctions held, of which 68 per cent were sold, according to CoreLogic.

Longueville longing

Sydney’s top sale was at Longueville where a five-bedroom, four-bathroom house fetched $5.6m.

The pre-auction guidance for 7 Yarrandi Place had been $5.35m. The 651sq m land cost $1.85m in 2004.

PropTrack put the Longueville median price at $5.49m.

There was a $3.86m sale of a five-bedroom 1920s Roseville bungalow with a 1970s extension. The 891sq m Duntroon Avenue property attracted nine registered parties, having been listed with a $3.3m guide.

The $3.4m opening bid saw five parties compete for the keys, Ray White selling agent Jessica Cao said. The reserve was $3.5m.

Offered for the first time in over eight decades, it sold to a lower north shore family.

The volume of auctions held across Sydney jumped to 642 last week, from 453 the week prior, with the preliminary clearance rate rising to 73 per cent.

It ranks as the highest result since last September, as the early bird spring vendors enjoyed a sellers market.

CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless noted auction listings were continuing to ramp up after the seasonal slump.
“Clearance rates are become more meaningful, providing a less volatile outcome and better measure of the fit between buyer and seller expectations,” Lawless says.

The national preliminary clearance rate rose to 67 per cent, the highest preliminary tally since mid-October.

“Finalised results typically revise lower, but the early trend is showing an improvement in selling conditions which might reflect some renewed confidence as the likelihood of interest rate cuts grows,” Lawless says.

PropTrack senior economist Anne Flaherty calculated Sydney will be the busiest auction city this week, though its 886 offerings sit 24 per cent lower than the same time last year.

Church disappointed

There were 32,508 page views but no sale for the nation’s priciest weekend listing, a prized six-bedroom, six-bathroom Manly redevelopment opportunity.

There were no bids for the oceanfront at 5 Marine Parade, Manly, having come with $10m to $11 guidance from Lisa Novak at Novak Real Estate in conjunction with Bulldog Realtor.

The Catholic Church, which retains the freehold, signalled on Friday they would grant a 20-year lease extension to 2051 for an additional $1.65m.

“This significant change opened up new possibilities for investors and buyers, potentially altering the property’s value and long-term prospects,” Novak told her Linkedin followers post-­auction.

Other capital cities

Brisbane led the volume across the smaller auction markets, with 211 homes going under the ­hammer.

Brisbane’s top result was $3.28m for a six-bedroom renovated Paddington home.

Its preliminary clearance rate fell to 50 per cent, from 58 per cent in the week prior and 55 per cent in the last week of January.

Brisbane’s top result was $3.28m for a six-bedroom renovated Paddington home which sold through Place agents Simon Wheelans and Marianne Hewitt.

The Stevenson Street property has last sold in 2010 for $695,000 when bought by former Morgans Financial Limited stockbroker Troy Fidler and his wife, Claire.

The garage has been known to hold up to 17 bikes for the cycling enthusiast family.

Adelaide saw 1 Salisbury Street, Somerton Park sell for $1,727,000, as the city returned a 63 per cent success rate. The three-bedroom, 1954-built home sold through the Noakes Nickolas agency.

Canberra held 62 auctions with 64 per cent have sold, including the five-bedroom Adam Hobill-designed home at 65 Buvelot Street, Weston through Blackshaw Manuka agent Mario Sanfrancesco at $3m.

The three-bathroom house at 26 Circe Circle, Dalkeith sold post-auction for $3.3m.

The priciest Perth weekend offering, the six-bedroom, three bathroom house at 26 Circe Circle, Dalkeith sold post-auction for $3.3m, having had eight registered bidders.

Offered through Vivien Yap at Ray White Dalkeith, the early 1990s Brian Burke Homes abode had last sold in 2017 for $2,232,000.

Yap says the buyer is a local family who relocated from the eastern states.