Rivett home sets a new suburb record with $1.267 million sale

Canberra is no stranger to record-breaking sales and, despite being in lockdown, a new suburb record has been set in Rivett after a four-bedroom house sold for $1.267 million.

Selling agent Sophie Luton, of Luton Properties, said the property at 6 Goodenia Street had attracted a range of potential buyers during the auction campaign.

“We had one week of open-home inspections before the lockdown was imposed and that’s when the eventual home-owners came through and viewed the house,” Ms Luton said.

“But come auction day, we had 12 registered bidders of which eight hadn’t seen the property.”

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The property went under the virtual hammer on Saturday but was passed in. The highest bidder and the vendor were then able to negotiate a price hours later.

According to Ms Luton, instead of the lockdown deterring buyers from purchasing a property sight-unseen, it only encouraged buyers to bid and “take what they can get”.

“There’s been very little stock on the market and limited properties able to list at the moment, so buyers are just purchasing what’s available,” she said.

“That just goes to show the sense of urgency there is to close on properties among buyers.”

Government records show Rivett’s previous suburb record was set by the four-bedroom property at 4 Santalum Street when it sold for $1.205 million. The latest sale surpassed that record by $62,000.

Last Saturday, Canberra recorded an auction clearance rate of 84 per cent. This was based on 62 reported results, of which 52 sold online, five were withdrawn and five were passed in. 

“Demand has continued to increase every month. Every single month has gathered more momentum from the previous month so there’s definitely a lot of appetite for property at the moment,” Ms Luton said.

“And with buyers quick to adopt online methods, I think we’ll continue to see records break at these virtual auctions.”

This week, there are 83 properties scheduled to go under the virtual hammer.