Canberra auctions: Queanbeyan townhouse sells for $610,000 under the hammer

A home in Queanbeyan West sold under the hammer on Saturday for $610,000, beating initial expectations and pre-auction offers. 

The two-bedroom, single-level townhouse at 4/13-15 Patanga Gardens attracted first-home buyers, downsizers and a crowd of onlookers, according to selling agent Lucy MacGregor of Ian McNamee & Partners. 

“There were people everywhere … I haven’t seen an auction like that in forever,” she said. 

The townhouse gained a lot of attention from the first open home, averaging around 15 people at each inspection throughout the campaign. 

Saturday’s auction attracted six registered bidders, which despite being less than initially anticipated, was still a great result, MacGregor added. 

“I knew we would have a good turn out today; we had six registered bidders even though we lost a couple after circumstances changed,” she said. 

“It sold for $610,000, which was over the reserve – we were guiding in the mid-to-high five-hundred-thousands.

“That price bracket attracts a few people … investors, first-home buyers, you’ve kind of got everyone.” 

MacGregor said properties within a similar price bracket were still regularly successful at auctions despite Canberra’s decreasing auction clearance rate. 

“This sort of product, with affordability in mind, seems to be still OK using the auction strategy,” she said. 

“There is a lot of talk about interest rates going up … and conditional contracts seem to be a more attractive option for properties at the upper end of the market because people want to run checks and balances, evaluations and things like that.

“We had a couple of offers pre-auction, but I am glad we went to auction because it did end up selling for a bit more than we expected.” 

The townhouse was initially bought as an investment for the vendors, but changing market conditions influenced the tenants to move out, and they decided to sell, Macgregor said. 

Elsewhere, a three-bedroom home at 10 Cudgewa Lane, Harrison, sold at auction on Saturday for $876,000 to a couple that were “young and upsizing”, said selling agent Steve Langford of HIVE Property.

The auction had four registered bidders and a “decent crowd of around 30 or more people in the backyard of the property”, Langford added. 

Just under 60 groups of people came through the property during the campaign, with multiple repeat inspections.

“We lost two bidders in the 24 hours, but I think [the auction was] pretty reflective of a good campaign with the market as it is today,” Langford said. 

Despite several pre-auction offers for the Harrison property, Langford also said he and the sellers were “happy” to have stuck to an auction. 

“As the agent and the auctioneer, I saw four pre-auction offers throughout the campaign,” he said. 

“All [offers] were competitive, but the result of $876,000 is over the highest pre-auction offer.

“The sellers were justified in their decision to take their home to auction in this instance, and all parties are happy with the result.”

Like the Queanbeyan West townhouse, the home in Harrison was bought as an investment property 12 months ago.