By Kristy Johnson
An investor beat first home buyers, as well as a couple who want to downsize, for a Darlington terrace, paying $1.72 million at auction on Saturday.
The two-bedroom, one-bathroom home at 16 Edward Street had a price guide of $1.5 million.
It was one of 792 auctions scheduled in Sydney on Saturday. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 67.6 per cent from 472 reported results, while 100 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
Sydney recorded an auction clearance rate of 63 per cent for the whole of August, Domain data shows.
Eight parties registered to bid on the renovated two-storey home. A couple, who hoped to make the property their first home, made an opening bid of $1.5 million.
A couple with plans to downsize were quick to outbid them. However, it was an investor from further afield in Sydney who swooped in at the last minute to place the winning bid of $1.72 million.
First home buyers missed out to an investor for a $1.72 million Darlington pad.Credit: Steven Siewert
The buyer’s wife who was also in attendance and declined to give her name said the home has been purchased as an investment.
Based in Beecroft, she said they were particularly interested in the suburb due to its proximity to the city.
Ray White Erskineville selling agent Ercan Ersan, who holds the listing alongside Nathan Antunes, said the buyer plans to rent out the terrace before moving in at a later date.
He said interest during the campaign had mostly been from first home buyers and that the reserve was in line with the $1.5 million guide.
The result on this occasion was swift and fast. However, Ersan said it’s been “a challenging time as most homes are getting passed in at auction”.
Over in Wareemba, buyers paid $5.5 million at auction for a home they plan to knock down and rebuild.
The four-bedroom, two-bathroom abode at 5 Irene Street had been tightly held by the same owner for 40 years.
There were nine registered bidders with seven active. The opening bid was $4.5 million.
Selling agent Arthur Syrios of McGrath Strathfield said the guide was $4.6 million to $5 million with the reserve set at $5.3 million.
Syrios said the buyers recently sold their home in Strathfield through his agency and were fond of Wareemba in the inner west.
He added that due to great buyer interest they increased the price guide halfway through the campaign.
Elsewhere, the Randwick home of a trailblazing horse trainer sold at auction for $2,151,000.
Betty Lane, who died aged 97 in October 2023, became the first woman to be granted a Sydney trainer’s licence by the Australian Jockey Club in 1976.
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom terrace at 18 William Street with views of the Royal Randwick Racecourse, sold to a young couple with children from the inner-city suburb of Paddington.
There were five registered bidders and the opening bid was $1.85 million.
The Sydney home of the late Betty Lane sold at auction on Saturday for $2,151,000.Credit: Russell McPhedran/Fairfax Media
Agent Marnie Seinor of McGrath Coogee said the price guide was from $2 million to $2.2 million with the reserve “around the price guide”.
Lane first applied for a trainer’s licence in 1962 but was turned down by a six-man panel.
In her 2019 memoir I Did It My (Their) Way she discusses their brutal response and how it was “not our policy to licence women”.
“In 1962, racing wasn’t male dominated, it was male exclusive,” she said.
Lane didn’t retreat. She purchased a property in the small village of Geurie in central-west NSW, about a 380-kilometre-drive from Sydney, and soon established herself as a premiership-winning trainer in the area.
The home has views of the Royal Randwick Racecourse.Credit: Domain
She was finally granted a licence to train at Royal Randwick in 1976 alongside legends including the late Bart Cummings.
A duplex in Ryde sold at auction for $2.39 million.
The buyers of 17a Olive Street are a young family from the inner city who wanted to upsize from an apartment.
There were six registered bidders and the opening bid was $2.1 million.
Agent Chris Pennisi of Pello Northern Suburbs, who holds the listing alongside Michael Dowling, said the price guide was from $2.2 million to $2.4 million.
The reserve was “within the price guide”.
Pennisi said there was a lot of interest in the five-bedroom home from buyers wanting to upsize from an apartment.
“We have seen interest particularly from the Concord area as well as parts of the lower north shore”.