A five-bedroom, four-bathroom terrace in Darlington sold at auction for $3,895,000 on Saturday, after an eastern suburbs family outbid two other families from the inner west and eastern suburbs.
Four parties registered and three actively bid on 512 Wilson Street, which was guided at $3.3 million and featured a charming old-meets-new monochromatic renovation plus a bonus self-contained unit.
Bidding opened at $3.1 million and two $100,000 bids took the price to $3.3 million. Further $50,000 increments took bidding to $3.6 million.
Bidding then slowed with varying $25,000 and $10,000 bids taking it to the sale price of $3,895,000.
BresicWhitney chief executive Thomas McGlynn said it was a significant result for the quiet winter period.
“It’s a sign that for good property there’s still plenty of buyers in the market looking to buy,” he said.
“When the market is still very strong, we have people bidding very, very solidly and in strong increments for good property. So [the auction] was a really good sign of strength to the market and strength to that type of property.”
It was one of 467 homes scheduled to go under the hammer in Sydney on the weekend. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 73.6 per cent from 292 reported results, while 56 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
Selling agent Melinda Antella from BresicWhitney Inner East declined to reveal the reserve but said the property size was a rare opportunity. The five bedrooms were spread over three levels and included a self-contained unit.
“[Darlington] is a really up-and-coming neighbourhood. Wilson Street where Carriageworks is has quite a good energy to it. It’s improving with some developments coming up in the area, which will add value to the precinct,” she said.
In Killarney Heights, a family sold their five-bedroom home after 21 years for $2.83 million.
Six people registered to bid and five hopeful owner occupiers actively bid on the single level solid brick home complete with swimming pool at 8 Roscommon Crescent.
There was silence for the first five minutes. When nobody made an offer, a $2.5 million vendor bid was placed. This activated five to place varying bids ranging from $5000 to $10,000 until the final price reached $2.83 million.
The property was guided at $2,470,000 based on buyer feedback due to an offer that was received during the four-week campaign.
Selling agent Kevin Mendes from Laing+Simmons East Group declined to reveal the reserve but said the $2.83 million price exceeded expectations.
“It was fairly rapid fire. Nobody wanted to make that first go. The only person that didn’t bid was a buyer’s agent,” he said.
“[The local school] has a fairly good following because it’s got a very attractive bilingual French program.”
The buyers were a family from Lindfield. The vendor will be heading out of Sydney for a tree change in regional NSW. The home last traded for $805,000 in 2002.
AMP chief economist Dr Shane Oliver said demand was there but against the backdrop of very low listings.
“[Low listings] enabled clearance rates to be higher than would otherwise have been the case. There’s still a bit of a cloud hanging out in the market because rates have continued to rise. We saw a pause in July but the RBA is indicating that it still has an inclination to raise interest rates further from here,” he said.
“We’ve had some surprising strength in the first part of the year. That’s now showing signs of waning volatility. I suspect we will get some more interest rate hikes by the time we get to spring; we may see some softer demand, which could then mean the clearance rates come off.”
In Mosman, a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment sold for $1,680,000.
Three people registered and two women assisted by their daughters actively bid on the unit in a low density building at 208/46-54 Harbour Street.
There was a shaky start to the proceedings with 10 minutes of silence leading to a $1.4 million vendor bid. A bid of $1.45 million meant the property would not be passed in.
The next bid was at the guide of $1.5 million, then offers of varying increments took it above the $1.58 million reserve and to the sale price of $1.68 million, a tidy $100,000 above the reserve.
The buyer is a downsizer who had recently sold in Mosman. The vendor had decided to sell as the rental income was not covering the mortgage due to the interest rate rises.
Selling agent Fan Li from Ray White Norwest said people were motivated to buy because they were paying high rent.
“If people have enough money for 20 per cent or 30 per cent for the deposit, they will try to buy the building rather than rent. [The market] is still good, just not as hot as one month ago.”
Elsewhere, a three-bedroom, one-bathroom knockdown sold for $1,445,000 to developers in Bexley. They plan to build a new house with a granny flat.
The property, located at 116 Queen Victoria Street, attracted families and is only 800 metres from Kogarah station. It was sold by Olivia Karacetin from McGrath Bankstown.
In Lane Cove a three-bedroom semi located at 34a Kara Street sold for $210,000 above reserve for $2,760,000.
Eleven people registered and four actively bid on the home.
Sold by Patrick Lang from Belle Property Lane Cove, the home last traded for $845,000 in 2006.