Auction results: Sydney home sells for $5.6 million at auction
House hunters in Sydney and Melbourne were out in force over the usually quiet long weekend, spending up big on high-end homes in short supply.
Buyers flocked to sprawling homes offering plenty of space, with one multimillion-dollar property in Sydney’s north-west drawing 17 registered bidders on Saturday.
The auction for the five-bedroom, five-bathroom Dural home, on 1.62 hectares, achieved the top reported result of the day, with strong competition from seven of the buyers pushing the price up to $5.6 million.
It was one of 313 Sydney homes scheduled to go to auction on Saturday, up from 217 on the Queen’s Birthday weekend last year.
By evening, Domain Group had recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 56.7 per cent from 167 reported results. Some 57 homes were withdrawn from auction.
It comes after fewer than half of Sydney and Melbourne sellers went ahead with their scheduled auctions last month, with Domain data showing the bulk of vendors either sold before auction day, withdrew, or postponed their auction campaign to take advantage of eased restrictions on public auctions and open homes.
At the Dural auction at 3 Carters Road, bidding started at $4.8 million, and rose in $100,000 bids up to $5.2 million, before slowing to smaller increases of $50,000 and $25,000.
Bidding came to a halt at $5.5 million, after which selling agents Will Hampson and Kate Lumby of Lumby Hampson encouraged the highest bidders – a family from the city’s west – to increase their offer to $5.6 million, at which the gavel fell. Records show the property last sold for $4.9 million in 2014.
It was one of two high-end sales in the suburb on Saturday, with the pair also selling an eight-bedroom, six-bathroom house at 1 Wildthorn Avenue for the unusual price of $4,380,888.36.
Four of the six registered bidders made offers on the 2.02-hectare property, which records show last sold for $2.31 million in 2008. Bidding opened at $3.8 million and came to a halt at $4.37 million.
Following negotiations with Mr Hampson on the auction floor, the highest bidder increased his offer, making sure to include both his and the vendor’s favourite numbers in the sale price.
“Now that things have returned to some normality with open homes and auctions, there’s a lot more confidence from the general public,” said Mr Hampson.
“We’ve had six sales in the past 10 days,” added Ms Lumby. “We’re seeing strong buyer activity and a shortage of property on the market.”
She felt there had been increased demand for acreages in recent weeks, particularly from buyers from the inner west and north shore, with the coronavirus pandemic prompting more people to assess their living situation and ability to work from home.
In the city’s inner west, four bidders registered to compete for a new seven-bedroom house in Burwood which sold for $35,000 above the reserve.
Bidding kicked off at $2.7 million and climbed steadily to the $2.865 million reserve, at which point it stalled. Bidding kicked back up after the home was called on market, with the property sold for $2.9 million to a family looking to upsize.
The vendors, who were downsizing, had hit the market right before the lockdown and ban on public auctions and open homes hit.
“Once [the government] lifted restrictions, we booked an auction,” said Hiroyoshi ken Miyagawa of Richard Matthews Real Estate. “Buyers are still there, but there is a shortage of stock … that makes the auction more competitive.”
In Melbourne there were 143 properties scheduled for auction on Saturday, down from 173 scheduled auctions on the same weekend last year.
By Saturday evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 56.3 per cent from 92 reported results. Fewer than a dozen properties were withdrawn.
The $1.6 million sale of a four-bedroom house at 748 Toorak Road, Hawthorn East was the highest reported sale price on the day, but bigger results followed over the long weekend, despite bidders being more sparse on the ground.
Among them was the $2.68 million paid for a five-bedroom house in Glen Waverley which failed to sell on the auction floor after drawing just one registered bidder.
The sole buyer made one bid for the home at 23 Crown Street, offering $2.55 million at which the property – marketed with a guide of $2.5 million to $2.75 million – was passed in.
Ellie Gong of McGrath Box Hill had interest from multiple parties in post-auction negotiations but ultimately sold the 724-square-metre block to the registered bidder.
While some buyers were making reduced offers, Ms Gong said, most realised that many vendors did not have to sell and were prepared to negotiate and offer more money to get a deal done.
A sprawling property in Berwick, about 41 kilometres south-east of Melbourne’s CBD, found a buyer after it was passed in on a vendor bid of $3.1 million at auction.
The four-bedroom house at 34 Caserta Drive also drew just one registered bidder, who made an offer of $2.9 million before the property was passed in on the vendor bid. By Monday it had sold to another buyer.
Chris Hill of O’Brien Real Estate Berwick was tight-lipped on the conditional sale price, but said it fell within the marketed price range of $3.3 million to $3.6 million.
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