'These opportunities don’t come up often': Big sales at higher end of the auction market in Sydney and Melbourne

While Melbourne’s auction results remain steady, Sydney’s have gone from strength to strength on a weekend that resulted in several homes selling for multiple millions at auction or just after being passed in.

Sydney’s preliminary auction clearance rate was 79.8 per cent after 813 auctions and 532 reported results and Melbourne’s was 70.9 per cent after 957 auctions and 653 reported results.

AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver said the Sydney and Melbourne markets had passed their first major test.

Clearance rates remain higher than they were last year, even as more houses are listed for sale.

“When the recovery started, it was on low volumes [of homes for sale]. Volumes are still well below boom-time levels, but it looks like it’s back to a more normal market,” Dr Oliver said.

Housing finance commitments had also revealed a growing strength in the market as Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showed a jump of 3.6 per cent lift in the number of mortgages issued in September.

In Sydney, strong sales continued at the higher end of the market.

One of the biggest reported sales for the week came from 6 View Street, Woolwich, near Hunters Hill, which sold under the hammer for $9.41 million.

McGrath Hunters Hill’s Nicholas Cowdrill said the six-bedroom, waterside property was bought by a  Souther Highlands family, who had children in schools nearby.

“It shows sales at the higher end of the market are coming back,” Mr Cowdrill said.

At the weekend, a home that belonged to Australia’s oldest animal activist, Ernest Bowden, sold under the hammer for $4 million – $1 million above the guide price.

The two-bedroom home, at 165 O’Sullivan Road, Bellevue Hill, was listed after the death of Mr Bowden, who was 105 when he died in 2017.

As part of his last wishes, 90 per cent of the profit will be donated to  nine different animal charities.

Selling agent Michael Pallier, of Sydney Sotheby’s International Realty, said 13 registered bidders fought it out for the keys.

The buyer was a local woman, who was happy to pay well above the guide price as the money was going towards a great cause, Mr Pallier said.

“The buyer is planning to rent it out for a couple of years and then work out what she wants to do with it,” Mr Pallier said.

It is now listed on the rental market for $1200 a week.

A five-bedroom home at 11 Balfour Street, Wollstonecraft, sold under the hammer for $3,815,000 to investors looking to add it to the rental market.

Seven registered bidders fought it out, with the home’s reserve set at a very specific $3,602,000.

Belle Property Neutral Bay’s Tom Scarpignato said the buyers were Australian expatriates currently living in Singapore.

Mr Scarpignato said the sale showed a strong demand for good-sized homes.

“These opportunities don’t come up often so when they do they are well contested,” he said.

In Melbourne, there were several multimillion-dollar sales at the weekend. Two of the biggest results reported, however, were negotiated after the home passed in.

A four-bedroom, three-bathroom home at 30 Elizabeth Street, Malvern, did not get a single bid, but one family negotiated a sale price – $4.75 million – immediately afterwards.

RT Edgar Toorak’s James Paull said the sale was like an auction after an auction.

“It went backwards and forwards for 40 minutes just negotiating between the parties,” Mr Paull said. The buyers, a Melbourne-based family, were planning to live in the home, he said.

Likewise, a renovators delight at 26 Shiers Street, Alphington, sold for $1.71 million – well above the $1.65 million reserve, but after the home passed in with only a vendor bid.

Three prospective buyers stuck around after the auction, only to bid against each other for a second time, before the property sold.

“It was one of the most bizarre auctions I’ve been involved in in 12 years,” Nelson Alexander Northcote’s Spiros Karagiannidis said.

A young couple were the successful buyers, and are planning to tear down the home and rebuild.

Meanwhile, a five-bedroom home in Balwyn sold under the hammer for $250,000 above the reserve after four bidders fought it out for the keys.

The home, at 64 Belmore Road, Balwyn, sold for $3.35 million to a family looking to call the suburb home.

Marshall White Stonnington director and auctioneer John Bongiorno said more auctions were listed for November this year compared with a year ago.

“We’re finding that people are right into it,” Mr Bongiorno said.