Auction watch: Long weekend no hurdle for Canberrans ready to buy

A nationwide long weekend wasn’t enough to deter prospective buyers from securing their dream home on Saturday.

About 60 people flocked to Narrabundah where 11 registered bidders tussled for a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house at 41 Walker Crescent.

Ray White Kingston selling agent Cory McPherson said demand for a limited number of houses was enough to counter October’s long weekends and school holidays, particularly in Canberra’s inner south.

“We market through long weekends,” he said.

“It’s such a strong market at the moment, I could basically ask buyers to turn up at 12 o’clock in their pyjamas and they would be there.”

The renovated house at Narrabundah was no exception, with an opening bid of $680,000 climbing past the suburb’s median house price of $772,000.

A young family that had recently moved to Canberra from interstate secured the property with a winning bid of $810,000.

Mr McPherson said the result exceeded expectations by about $60,000 to $70,000.

It was among 15 auctions across Canberra on Saturday, contributing to a clearance rate of 58 per cent, according to Domain data.

“Narrabundah is red hot – it’s probably the hottest inner south suburb at the moment,” he said.

“It’s at a price range which makes it more competitive for people trying to get into the inner south.”

Mr McPherson said the school catchment zone was the big drawcard for the majority of registered bidders at Saturday’s auction, with Telopea Park School, Red Hill Primary School and Narrabundah College close by, plus a pool of private schools.

Schools were also the big disrupter of auction days, rather than public holidays in central Canberra.

“The big school fetes just draw everyone out of the inner south – they can just suck the market dry,” Mr McPherson said.

Long weekends, on the other hand, could be a good opportunity for interstate buyers to secure a property.

“A lot of people use it as an excuse to drive from interstate,” he said. “For a lot of people at this time, they have a short window between now and Christmas.”

Elsewhere, two auctions pipped the million-dollar mark including 3 Strahan Row in Yarralumla at $1,830,000 and 11 Haines Street in Curtin at $1,290,000, both sold through Peter Blackshaw Real Estate.