Canberra auctions: Chapman home sells for $1.56 million after passing in at auction

A Chapman home sold for $1.56 million on Saturday after initially passing in at auction, when a single bidder failed to reach the reserve price during proceedings but came to an agreement with the sellers later in the day.

The four-bedroom house at 4 Pelham Place was expected to attract more than one registered bidder, but a handful pulled out on the morning of the auction, said selling agent Linda Lockwood of Belle Property Canberra. 

“In any market, really, you have no idea what is going to play out on the day … you just have to plan for the worst and hope for the best, which is exactly what we did,” she said. 

Bidding started when the bidder placed an opening offer of $1.3 million. 

Auctioneer and co-agent Michael Pead, also of Belle Property Canberra, announced the bid was far below the reserve and, with no further bidding, went inside to start negotiating with the sellers.

After both Pead and Lockwood spoke to the sellers and the bidder, Pead announced the latter had raised their initial offer to $1.5 million. 

After going back to the vendors, Pead then told the crowd the offer had been increased to $1.55 million. 

The bid, however, remained below the reserve price for the home and, with no further increases, the home was announced to have passed in. 

Several hours later, after the sole bidder had time to consider their circumstances and ability to increase their offer, contracts were signed at a sale price of $1.56 million.

Lockwood said she had expected things to play out the way they did after hearing there was only going to be one bidder at the auction. 

“We received the news this morning that three potential bidders were no longer able to participate, so we set it up to be a one-bidder auction,” she said. 

Pead said auctions like this one had become commonplace in recent months, given the ever-changing state of buyer finances. 

The average number of registered bidders across the board was definitely lower than before, he added, “so it’s not uncommon for us to only get one or two registered bidders on auction day”.

“Finances have tightened up for a lot of people, and there are buyers who aren’t sure how their current place is going to sell, so aren’t sure what they actually can afford.

“People are constantly having to go back and forth with their financing people and their mortgage brokers, and their lending capacity is becoming more and more uncertain.”

Lockwood said that, with a large number of groups going through the home during the campaign, she had always been confident the home would sell soon, even if it didn’t attain a result on auction day. 

“This home is in such a wonderful location in the cul-de-sac, backing straight onto Cooleman Ridge,” she said. 

“With 45 groups coming through the home during the campaign and six contracts going out, it was always obvious to us that home was really well received.

“If we didn’t get this sale today, I would have opened it again on Monday, and I think it would have been under offer in a week.”