Canberra auctions: Ambitious renovators battle for fire damaged Weston Creek home

While Canberra’s volatile auction market has seen less than half the properties auctioned sell under the hammer in recent weeks, distinct offerings are making their mark.

On Wednesday evening, a fire ravaged Weston Creek home was snapped up by keen renovator for $455,000.

The home at 209 Badimara Street, Fisher retains its outside structure but there is extensive fire damage throughout the interior. There’s also an empty concrete pool in the backyard. The fire occurred in May.

It was marketed as having “good bones and is a great base to begin a full renovation and upgrade”. There were five registered bidders at the auction, and LJ Hooker Woden listing agent Dan Cooper said all intended to renovate, not demolish the home.

Bidding for the home kicked off at $360,000, and four bidders participated in the auction. The price moved quickly to $420,000 and then crept up to its eventual selling price.

Mr Cooper said the property performed better than most in the current market, and that renovator homes such as this tend to do incredibly well at auction. 

“Homes such as this are fairly rare, but they tend to sell very well because they offer entry-level price points for the suburb,” he said. 

Fisher’s median house price is $643,000.

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The auction was held at the LJ Hooker Canberra City office, with 10 other properties auctioned on the night. Banjo Paterson’s former property also sold at the event for $1 million. Paterson called the Wee Jasper property home from 1908 to 1912.

On Saturday morning, a rare 1920s heritage-listed Kingston home at 53 Leichhardt Street sold under the hammer for $1.355 million.

The three-bedroom home sits in the historic Kingston Garden City heritage precinct – the only area of the inner-south suburb that has not been redeveloped for strata title units.

Heritage restrictions on the 707-square-metre block imposed a limitation on the sale said Cream Residential listing agent Chris Wilson, but “ultimately it was a good result”.

There were two registered bidders who both battled for the keys.

Bidding was slow to get underway for the home, with Mr Wilson, also the auctioneer on the day, telling the crowd “don’t be shy”, and suggested the first bid be “potentially around $1 million”.

A bidder eventually heeded the advice, and after the initial bid, the auction progressed relatively quickly. Bidding moved in increments of $50,000 until the price reached $1.2 million, where the advances shortened to $25,000.

At $1.3 million the increments decreased to $10,000, and when it hit $1.34 million one of the parties – a family – declared they were out. Mr Wilson sought instructions from the vendor and came back swiftly to announce the home was on the market.

The family made one last punt for the home with a bid of $5000 before a bid of $10,000 caused them to exit the game, this time for good.

The buyers are downsizers who already reside in the inner south.

“The auction went well, and it sold at the higher end of our range … lucky we had the second buyer there,” said Mr Wilson.

Mr Wilson said while the auction market is weakening, quality properties are still finding success under the hammer.

According to Domain group data, it is only the second house in Kingston to sell this year. In February, the home at 84 Dawes Street sold for $2.8 million – the seller was Canberra property giant, Geocon director Nick Georgalis.

There were 90 scheduled auctions on Saturday.