New week, new record: Suburb highs set in Torrens and Richardson

Every week a new record is being set in Canberra, and this week is no different with the suburbs of Torrens and Richardson recording new residential sales benchmarks.

The record in Torrens now sits at $2.385 million and it’s $824,000 in Richardson.

The two sales bring the total number of records broken this year in the ACT and its surroundings to 50, a figure that did not surprise Jonathan Charles of Independent Woden.

“It’s a sign of the times. We have new records being set every week and so many buyers who miss out at auction so there’s a pool of house hunters who are willing to spend upwards of $1 million for a house right now,” he said.

The four-bedroom property he listed at 61 Gouger Street, Torrens, sold under the hammer on Sunday and is the area’s first sale of over $2 million. It surpassed the previous benchmark by $845,000.

Mr Charles, the selling agent, said he was confident the residence would set a new benchmark because it was “a spectacular home” that attracted more than 130 groups throughout the auction campaign.

Come auction day, there were 13 registered bidders.

Bidding for the property kicked off at $1.5 million and quickly made its way past the $2 million mark thanks to five parties before the hammer eventually fell at $2.385 million, Mr Charles said.

“The location of the property and the fact that it backs out onto a nature property was the main drawcard for the new home-owners,” he said.

The sellers were downsizing, while the new home-owners were a young family looking to upsize.

Government records show the suburb’s previous record was set by the house at 109 Gouger Street when it sold for $1.54 million in 2019.

Elsewhere, a three-bedroom property at 80 Fullerton Crescent, Richardson, sold for $824,000 via private negotiations, beating the previous record by $9000.

Selling agent Adam Heading of Heading Home Properties said while the record price wasn’t the driving force behind the sale, it was a home “worthy of this new accolade”.

“The sellers had renovated and presented the home beautifully and that’s what attracted the many buyers who walked through the house … [including] the first-home buyer who bought the house,” he said.

“After looking at recent sales in the area, we were pretty confident it would sell for a good price without taking it to auction.”

Buyers flocked to the open for inspections throughout the selling campaign, which Mr Heading described as one of the busiest he’d had.

“Previously, I’d try and sell properties off-market but these days, you don’t need to do that,” he said.

“Like every other property going to market, doesn’t matter what type it is, as soon as you list it, the buyers will come.”

Government records show Richardson’s previous suburb record was set by the property at 19 McBurney Crescent, which sold for $815,000 in 2019.