Builders pay $16 million for Denman Prospect land but Canberra buyers 'gun shy'

Prospective buyers seeking a home in Canberra’s new suburb of Denman Prospect may have been “gun shy” at a public land auction on Saturday with only 11 of the 30 residential blocks on offer selling.

The result was in stark contrast to the spirited bidding on show at a builder’s auction on Friday, when six land packages in the Molonglo Valley suburb were sold for a combined total of almost $16 million.

Denman Prospect project director Nick McDonald Crowley said 22 parties registered to bid at Saturday’s public auction. Three blocks sold under the hammer and another eight at reserve price through direct sales.

“The bidding was hard work with the first couple of blocks,” he said. “I think people were a bit gun shy about the auction process.”

The sales raked in a total $5.46 million. The dearest block cost $598,000 and the cheapest block sold for $410,000. The average block size was 480 square metres.

The result was not dissimilar to a Land Development Agency auction of packaged lots in Throsby in July.

Almost two-thirds of the Gungahlin blocks fell short of the reserve price, and prices averaged $1142 per square metre.

The result led some industry experts to suggest the price of land in Canberra had hit its peak.

However, there was “spirited bidding” among the 21 registered parties at Friday’s builders’ auction.

All six land packages were snapped up by local builders, including three multi-dwelling townhouse sites selling for a combined total of $10.23 million – an average of $807 per square metre.

A 24-townhouse site on a 4919-square-metre block was the biggest sale of the day, fetching $3.95 million.

Three packaged lots of semi-detached terrace sites also sold, including two six-block packages for $2 million and a five-block package for $1.71 million.

The three sales equated to an average of $1043 per square metre, placing them at the upper end of recent Canberra land sales.

“Five of the sites fell under the hammer and the sixth was sold immediately after the conclusion of the auction,” Mr McDonald Crowley said.

Denman Prospect’s first three multi-unit sites sold for more than $10 million.

So far 270 standard residential blocks have sold in Denman Prospect and the first residents are expected to move in before the end of the year.