Canberra auctions: Gutted Kambah home on quarter-acre block sells for $425,000

A completely gutted Kambah house on a quarter-acre block sold under the hammer on Saturday morning for $425,000.

There are no internal walls, floors or ceilings at 19 Oldfield Circuit. At 104-square metres, the house is smaller than the average Canberra apartment.

A crowd of about 30 gathered to watch the auction, and five of those were registered to bid.

The proceedings kicked off with auctioneer Frank Walmsley of Auction Advantage saying the property could be the “buy of the year”, and he pointed to the scarcity of vacant blocks available in Canberra greater than 1000 square metres.

The starting bid was $330,000, which was countered with a $350,000 reply. There was one further increment of $20,000 before the stride shortened to $10,000.

At this point, a third bidder attempted to enter the competition with a bid of $1000 but Mr Walmsley would not accept it. The underbidder then swept in with $10,000 rise. Bidding stalled for a brief moment before the third bidder successfully entered, this time upping the price by $11,000 to $401,000.

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There was a counterbid of $410,000,  then bidding halted. Listing agent Sandy Morris, of One Agency Sandy Morris, went to seek instructions while Mr Walmsley spoke to the bidders. They ended up increasing their bid to $420,000 and the property was declared for outright sale.

As the property was about to be called away, the underbidder lifted their paddle for a $1000 bid that Mr Walmsley would not accept. He told the bidder he would take a $5000 rise, which the bidder rejected, but the two came to a compromise and a bid of $2500 was accepted.

This was countered quickly with another $2500 increment and shortly after this, the hammer fell.

Speaking after the auction, Mr Walmsley said: “To have five registered bidders in this market for something that needs so much work is a great result”.

The buyer is in the building industry, a project manager at Lendlease. Ms Morris said he would either knock the home down or renovate and add a granny flat out the back. She said now that most of the former Mr Fluffy blocks have sold in Kambah, it was a rare opportunity for a tradesperson to purchase land in the suburb.

“It’s a renovator’s or tradesperson’s delight,” she said.

“For your average person, who would have to pay for somebody to do it, it would be difficult, but for somebody who is in the game … it’s a really good buy.”

Ms Morris could not comment on the owners or why the house was in the state it was. Sales records show the property last sold three years ago for $350,000, but the archived listing photos from 2016 do not include any internal shots of the home.

The median house price for Kambah is $560,000. The last sale on Oldfield Circuit was next door, at number 21 in August last year, for $490,000. The other  neighbour holds the street record – it sold in 2014 for $569,950.