Canberra auctions: Sun shines on Harrison townhouse as it sells for $624,000

A townhouse in Harrison sold for $624,000 on Saturday at an auction held in the home’s sunny courtyard, making the most of the break in this week’s rain. 

Four of seven registered bidders fought tooth and nail for the two-bedroom home at 28/138 Flemington Road, following what was a “really strong campaign”, said selling agent Richard King of Bastion Property Group. 

“Despite the campaign, I would say that I am actually quite surprised – I didn’t imagine that there would be this level of interest on the day,” he said. 

Bidding kicked off when one of the four active bidders placed a starting offer of $565,000, matching the price guide on the listing for the home. 

From there, buyers started entering the competition until four were participating strongly, placing bids in increments of $5000 until the price hit $600,000. 

Bids of $2000 and $1000 then took the home to $612,000, when auctioneer Rob Cappuccio announced the townhouse was on the market. 

Tense and fast bids of $1000 and $500 followed until the final bid of $624,000 was placed and the hammer fell. 

King said that, in his experience, auctions regularly attract a smaller number of bidders than the campaign would suggest, but the number of registered and participating bidders on Saturday was a nice surprise. 

Seventeen groups went through the house on the first day of the campaign, and good numbers were maintained for the rest of the open homes, he added. 

“Essentially, in most auction campaigns, you don’t tend to have as many show up as you do during the campaign for the home,” King said. 

“I think what happened today is a good example to show we are still in a very competitive market here in Canberra … first-home buyers, investors and those looking in that middle price range are still achieving great results.

“I know that is contrary to the media, and perhaps to the rest of Australia at the moment, but you just can’t deny the amount of competition and how much people want homes still in Canberra.” 

The eventual buyer of the townhouse was an investor, which was just one of three different demographics that viewed the property throughout the campaign, King added. 

“The buyers saw a lot of value [in the location], with the light rail being up and operational through to the city, which will likely cater for uni students or those who need to catch it for work,” he said. 

“This property also caught the eye of young families with quite young children or those expecting, and there were also a couple of downsizers coming to inspect, as proven by the result today.

“The sellers are a young family who have now bought another townhouse in Throsby. They loved the home and it suited them and their young child, but they were just starting to run out of space.”