Canberra auctions: Newly built Deakin house passes in at $1.95 million

Carrington Street in Deakin is where the old meets new. In recent years, the street has become a hotspot for builders doing knockdown rebuilds. Now, character 1950s homes sit alongside striking contemporary designs.

It was one such contemporary home that went under the hammer on Saturday.

About 70 people gathered in the front yard of 10 Carrington Street on the frosty morning but were not met with a result as the home was passed in at $1.95 million.

The four-bedroom, three-bathroom house was completed in 2018. It is architecturally designed and sits on a 598-square-metre block.

When proceedings were declared open, the first bid of $1.75 million was quick off the mark, but there were no further rises forthcoming.

After a lull which saw listing agent Dan McAlpine of Belle Property Kingston head inside the home to chat with the sellers, auctioneer Louise Harget, also of Belle Property, placed a vendor bid $200,000 higher.

It did little to add momentum to the competition and there were no other bids placed. Ms Harget joked to the crowd the bidders must have “stage fright”.

On finishing, the sole bidder in the proceedings headed inside to negotiate with the vendors. Mr McAlpine said the bidder had increased his bid, but would not disclose by how much, adding that a deal was not reached at the time.

“It’s a beautiful home. We are not going to have any issues in selling it,” he said.

“It’s probably just whether it happens today from the registered party we have an increased offer from or we just play the private treaty game,”Mr McAlpine added.

• Related: Gutted Kambah home on quarter-acre block fetches $425,000 under the hammer 
• Related: As Kambah home passes in, agents says buyers waiting for stamp duty changes 
• Related: Three-bedroom Giralang home sells for $775k 

More than 100 groups inspected the home, said co-listing agent Linda Lockwood of Belle Property Kingston.

“We are dealing with four interested buyers, and a couple of other buyers that showed some interest late in the marketing campaign,” she said.

“We are confident of having a sale within a very short period of time.”

Sales records show the property sold in 2015 for $927,000. At that time there was a two-bedroom home on the block.

Mr McAlpine said the auction showed buyers were being more cautious.

“It’s typical in today’s market in terms of the behaviour – there are a number of interested parties outside the auction terms,” he said.

“[In this market] people don’t want to be seen overpaying, as it were, so a lot of time buyers are sounding out the value and taking time to consider it.

“I think now is a good time to be buying. We have seen clearances up in Sydney; if that continues to occur we always lag six months behind which means that come spring we are going to be back in an improved market, from the perspective of auction clearances.”

Last weekend the auction clearance rate in Sydney was 70 per cent from reported results on the day, in Canberra it was only 44 per cent.

UPDATE: The house sold two days after auction for $2 million.