Canberra auctions: Denman Prospect land sells for $1,212,500 

A block of land spanning 660 square metres in Denman Prospect sold under the hammer for $1,212,500 on Saturday morning in front of more than a dozen people who wanted to get their hands on the gently sloping patch.

The 30-metre deep by 22-metre wide block at 30 Temple Terrace brought more than 130 online inquiries and, on the day of the auction, seven parties registered to bid, selling agent Nathan Burraston of Francis Properties said.

The auction, held at Ridgeline Park less than 500 metres from the land, kicked off at $950,000 before it was countered by a $50,000 raise.

The opening bidder then came back with a $1.05 million offer before a third party entered the race with an offer of $1.1 million.

From here, it came down to two parties who increased the price by $50,000 and $25,000 increments until the price reached $1.2 million. 

At this point, the third bidder then increased the price by $12,500 and, with no forthcoming offers, auctioneer Frank Walmsley of Auction Advantage dropped the hammer. The sale surpassed the reserve by $72,500.

After their successful win, the new landowners – who wished to remain anonymous – said they were “very pleased to finally have found something to build our forever home”.

“We’ve been looking for land for the past year all around Canberra and haven’t been very lucky at previous land sales,” the buyer said. “This was our very first on-site auction so we’re pretty happy we won it.”

Mr Burraston said land sales were few and far between in Canberra.

“People who are looking for land want something affordable but there is a fundamentally low supply of land in the ACT [and] high demand,” he said.

Elsewhere, a three-bedroom house at 29 Angophora Street, Rivett, sold under the hammer for $950,000.

Selling agents Tina and Rick Meir of Hayman Partners said the property garnered a lot of interest throughout the auction campaign, including a pre-auction offer of $830,000.

“When we received that offer, we went to all the interested parties and from there we were able to determine that the property would exceed that price at auction,” Mr Meir said.

Six parties registered to bid for the house. Mr Meir described the start of the auction as “painfully slow” but two families fought it out as soon as it was announced on the market at $860,000.

“The bidders were in the same circumstances in that they were young families who’d been looking for a house for months and that’s what drove those competitive offers,” he said.

This was the first auction Mr Meir had hosted on site since restrictions were lifted on outdoor auctions.

“Although we had a limited number of people on the property, we couldn’t stop people from viewing the auction from afar,” he said.

“It just goes to show the depth and strength of the market. Some people still prefer online auctions but there’s nothing like being at the auction and seeing it unfold before you.”