By Sarah Webb
A Sydney investor paid $2.66 million for a North Shore property despite a price guide slash of $300,000 just days out from the Saturday auction.
The renovated three-bedroom home at 8 Hawkins Street in Artarmon barely nabbed a nibble when it was marketed with an original guide of $2.6 million, but the sizeable pivot to a $2.3 million guide attracted a dozen registered punters – leading to a fast and furious auction.
Selling agent Jessica Cao of Ray White Upper North Shore said five active bidders, of which four were owner-occupiers, raised their paddles for the bungalow, which last changed hands in 2008 for $900,000. It was listed for sale to no avail three times between 2012 and 2018.
A local family threw down an opening offer of $2.3 million but was soon muscled out after a flurry of $20,000 and $10,000 bids.
It quickly reached the $2.6 million reserve. Despite the fierce competition, it was an investor looking to rent out the well-located home that sealed the deal, Cao said, ending the rollercoaster campaign.
“The owner was so nervous that day that he didn’t even want to be there. The lack of buyer interest and then having to cancel the auction and reduce the price guide was a bit heartbreaking,” she said.
The home at 8 Hawkins Street, Artarmon sold for $2.66 million. Credit: Nikki Short
“But to end up selling it for that amount was incredible. When we dropped the price, we got interest right away, so I feel like this shows you must work with the interest levels, and you have to be realistic.”
Cao said the house itself presented nicely while being a standalone property on a 354.1 square metre block in an area where buyers don’t have a lot of choice.
While the home has been largely rented out since 2007, the last recorded weekly rent was in 2017, when it fetched $1,050.
It was one of 1136 auctions scheduled in Sydney on Saturday, a “super Saturday” for the property market. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 70.8 per cent from 734 reported results, while 154 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
The Artarmon home had been renovated.Credit: Nikki Short
Over in Stanmore, a striking five-bedroom home next to a pub smashed the suburb house price record after it sold for $4.55 million at a heated early morning auction.
Eight registered bidders, of which six were active, battled it out for the double-fronted property at 3 Temple Street, helping the home sail past the $4.2 million reserve and $3.9 million guide in minutes.
Auctioneer Damien Cooley of Cooley Auction said a $3.75 million bid kicked off the 8.15am event, followed by largely $50,000 jumps until a local family offered $5000 to seal the deal.
“There was a great crowd, and it was competitive. There were 17 bids altogether, and it went for just seven minutes,” he said.
“Over the past two weeks, the market has been performing really well, and it has improved for sellers.
“That’s because there are good-quality homes on the market, and there’s excitement around that. Then there’s talk of interest rates not going up, and this is a positive sign for buyers as it gives them some clarity.”
Selling agent Jonathan Hammond of CobdenHayson Annandale added the campaign was golden from the get-go, with 190 groups through.
“This is my second sale north of $4 million this year, and most of the buyers were locals living in the immediate surrounding streets,” he said.
“Locals here see the value, and they’re willing to pay a premium for a larger house. It’s uncanny how many of the buyers were upsizing from nearby streets.”
Hammond said the home’s appeal also lay in its location walking distance to Newtown, and the fact that homes in Stanmore remained a steal compared to nearby prestige pockets.
“The only drawback is it’s right next door to a pub,” he said.
“But you can get a nice coffee there in the morning.”
In Waterloo, a two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit at 323/268 Pitt Street achieved a reserve-smashing $1.35 million under the hammer after six active bidders fought it out for the keys to their first home.
The renovated and spacious park-side apartment sits in a tightly held building and attracted more than 100 inspections throughout the campaign.
Selling agent Renee Cross, of Ray White Elizabeth Bay said a young first-home owner couple secured the winning bid but was forced to pay well over the $1.25 million reserve.
She said that three weeks into the campaign, the owners – who bought the apartment as newlyweds back in 2018 - received an offer of $1.22 million but decided to push through to the auction. The home was first marketed with a $1.2 million guide, but once they received the offer, they ran the rest of the campaign without a guide but pointing to comparable sales of $1.2 million to $1.3 million.
“Out of the 10 registered bidders we had, six were young professional first home buyer couples,” said Cross.
“It’s a desirable apartment in a building that’s 20 years old, has $1 million in the bank, and that gives people security. I think the fact that a lot of people live there for 10 and even 15 years makes this residence a good story.”
Cross said the underbidder threw down $1.18 million to open the auction.
“It went up in $10,000 and $5000 increments, and then we got down to $1000s and even a $500 bid,” she said.
“It had such a fun vibe … but I do think there’s more urgency in the first home buyer market. A lot of them want to get in now because of high rent prices.”
Over at Chatswood, a middle-aged local couple paid almost $400,000 over the reserve to nab an old three-bedroom, two-level penthouse at 3B/1-7 Whitton Rd that had never hit the market.
The home, which was an unliveable deceased estate prior to being marketed, had a guide of $1.7 million and a reserve of $1.795 million but achieved $2.167 million under the hammer after two active bidders duelled it out.
Selling agent Jon Snead of the Agency said it was nothing short of a cracker, thanks to the unique charms of the penthouse.
“It needs a bit of work, but it offers tonnes of living space. Bidding kicked off at $1.65 million with the underbidder, and we had $25,000 increments, and then some odd jumps like $33,000,” he said.
“It was fairly quick, though. I think we were done in 15 minutes. The ultimate buyer lives down the road and hadn’t been looking that long, but this home has never changed hands, so there was a lot of emotion.
“A lot of the previous owner’s siblings were there, and so a lot of memories came flooding back for them. They would have been happy to get $1.8 million for it, which says everything about supply and demand.”
Snead said it also spoke to the importance of key touch-ups and renovations before the sale.
“It was a perfect example how a campaign should run. They spent a fair bit of money on prepping the place because it was essentially unliveable before that. So they put in fresh carpet and paint, changed lights and put in new toilets, for example, to make it a more liveable space where you could move into,” he said.
“Most people aren’t looking for a project.”