Canberra auctions: Original-condition 1960s Curtin house sells for $708,000

Two auctions told a tale of two buyer types when a renovator’s delight in Curtin and a fully renovated home in Queanbeyan both went under the hammer on Saturday.

The original-condition Curtin 1960s house — a three-bedroom red-brick character property on a leafy 662-square-metre block — sold under the hammer on Saturday morning for $708,000.

The competition was fierce – there were five registered bidders and four of those participated in the race for the keys to 3 Whyte Place. 

Proceedings kicked off with LJ Hooker Manuka auctioneer Tyran Murphy asking for an opening bidder offer of $620,000. There was a minute or two of silence before one of the bidders heeded the call.

From there, bidding gained momentum, with the following three bids – two increments of $20,000 and one of $10,000 – all coming from three different parties. 

At $680,000, the bids shortened to $5000, then at $695,000 a rise of $2000 was accepted. With a brief lull in the bidding, Mr Murphy declared the house on the market.

Two parties battled it out to the end, countering each other with $1000 rises.

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Mr Murphy, also the listing agent, described the auction as “thrilling” and said it well exceeded expectations, selling for $40,000 above reserve.

“We had expectations mainly in the mid to high $600,000s,” he said.

Curtin has seen a string of knock-down rebuilds over recent years but Mr Murphy said the buyers wouldn’t knock down the original property, intending instead to renovate. He added family renovators had been the most attracted to the property.

“It’s untouched, has never been renovated, there are no tacky extensions you have to deal with. It’s pretty much come and put your own taste on it,” he said.

“And because it’s on a smaller block it doesn’t attract developers; it attracts more your family renovator. It’s in such a peaceful location as well.”

Later in the day, a heritage Queanbeyan house went under the hammer. The house at 31 Campbell Street is within Queanbeyan’s heritage precinct and has undergone sympathetic renovations.

Although a crowd of about 80 gathered to watch the auction, the character home did not sell under the hammer.

A bid for $720,000 got the auction underway, but that was as far as it went no other bids were forthcoming. Auctioneer Dan McAlpine of Belle Property Queanbeyan exercised a vendor bid for $800,000 but it was not enough to spur other bidders into action.

A $1000 rise from the starting bidder was accepted, which granted them the first right to refusal. Post-auction negotiations commenced and there was an increase of $9000. At the time of publication negotiations were ongoing.

Mr McAlpine said he was confident a sale was forthcoming as there was interest from eight parties, including the registered bidders.

“To have five registered bidders with only one wanting to make an offer is slightly unusual, particularly when everyone had been given a price guide throughout the campaign,” he said.

“There has been a lot of conditional interest in this. There were three parties that couldn’t bid under the terms so we’re confident we’re going to have an offer and acceptance, probably in the next three days.”

The price guide given for the Queanbeyan house was $790,000 to $850,000.