By Kate Burke
A first home buyer couple walked away with the keys to a two-bedroom house in Petersham on Saturday, after outbidding nine other house hunters with a winning $1.6 million offer.
Ten bidders, a mix of first home buyers and those hoping to upgrade from apartments, turned out to compete for the house at 258 Addison Road, which sold for $200,000 above the reserve.
Auctioneer Edward Riley (centre) and selling agent Joseph Tropiano (right) at the auction for the Petersham home.Credit: Rhett Wyman
The 234-square-metre block was one of 589 Sydney homes scheduled for auction on Saturday.
By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 75.1 per cent from 374 reported results, while 63 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
Bidding on the home was quick to open at $1.3 million. It climbed swiftly in $50,000 jumps to $1.5 million, before some smaller increases. Only three bidders made offers and the others were quickly priced out.
The home sold well above the initial price guide of $1.25 million, which was later revised to between $1.3 million and $1.4 million due to strong interest throughout the campaign.
First home buyers and upsizers competed for 258 Addison Rd, Petersham.Credit: Rhett Wyman
Stone Real Estate Newtown’s Joseph Tropiano was surprised by the pace of the auction, and said most buyers had been capped at $1.3 million to $1.5 million, and did not get a chance to make an offer before the bidding exceeded their budget.
“The sub $1.5 million market, which we all thought this was going to go below, that market is relatively strong,” he said. There had been 160 groups through the property, he said.
The lower supply of homes for sale was helping boost competition at auctions, Tropiano said, as was the introduction of the new property tax, which waives the need for first home buyers to pay an upfront stamp duty payments on homes worth up to $1.5 million.
Auctioneer Edward Riley said the strong result defied current market sentiment.
The two-bedroom house sold for $1.6 million.Credit: Rhett Wyman
“I think the smart buyers are sensing we are close to the bottom of the current cycle and are happy to buy now with a view to holding for the next five to 10 years. History tells us that if they take the long-term approach, they will be rewarded, ” he said.
Records show the home last sold for $1.15 million in 2017. The vendors plan to upsize in the area.
In Mosman, a four-bedroom house sold for just shy of $6 million, following a contest between three of seven registered bidders.
The character home on a 715-square-metre corner block had a price guide of $5.25 million and was purchased by a local family who attended the first open inspection in mid-January.
The auction opened with an offer of $5 million, and the bidding increased in $200,000, $100,000 and $50,000 increments to $5.95 million, then dropped to smaller raises.
The house at 22 Pindari Avenue sold for $5,995,000 through Adrian Bridges of Atlas Lower North Shore, who had a revised reserve of $5.5 million.
“I’m pretty bullish on the market at the moment. It’s off to a good start for the year. There’s [buyers] around and confidence with results like this,” he said.
The house last sold for $2,302,000 in 2010, records show.
In North Ryde, a buyer increased their offer by $125,000 in post-auction negotiations to become the new owner of a four-bedroom house at 10 Norfolk Way.
Five buyers turned out for the auction, and three competed, pushing the bidding from an opening offer of $1.7 million to $1.83 million, at which point the home was passed in by auctioneer Michael Garofolo of Cooley Auction.
The home, which had a guide of $1.85 million, sold shortly afterwards to the highest bidder, a young family returning from overseas, for $1,955,000.
The result was below the $2 million written reserve, but still well above the $1,736,000 that records show the sellers paid for the property just over two years ago.
Selling agent James Sarzano from Stone Real Estate North Ryde said the vendors and buyers were willing to compromise to strike a deal.
In Darlington, 14 buyers registered to bid on a three-bedroom terrace at 11 Ivy Street.
Half of the buyers competed, pushing the price from an opening bid of $1.8 million to a sale price of $2.1 million, surpassing the $2 million reserve. The property had a guide of $1.8 million.
The 169-square-metre block was sold by Nick Playfair from BresicWhitney Inner West to a young family who had been renting locally.
He attributed the strong buyer turnout to a lack of quality terraces in the area.
“I think a lack of competition in that immediate area, and the general popularity of that area, helped,” he said.
Records show the terrace last sold for $1,265,000 in 2018.