Strathnairn home sets new suburb record with $1.27m sight-unseen sale

With tight real estate restrictions in place under lockdown, many properties have sold without an in-person inspection from buyers. At a five-bedroom house in Strathnairn, one buyer did just that, setting a new record for the suburb along the way.

The residence at 2 Rachel Mackinson Street, Strathnairn, sold via private negotiations for a record price of $1.27 million, surpassing the previous suburb benchmark by $141,000. 

The property was exchanged on Tuesday, only days after restrictions on on-site inspections were eased in the ACT.

Selling agent Alvin Nappilly of Confidence Real Estate said he had listed the house the day the capital went into lockdown.

“The entire process was done online, which has its pros and cons, but we were able to provide as much information as possible to all interested parties,” he said.

“There are some buyers who wouldn’t purchase a home without seeing it first so the eventual buyers took this as an opportunity to purchase their dream home, beating out the more cautious buyers.”

Mr Napilly said that the new homeowners were a family moving to Strathnairn from Moncrieff who’d been on the hunt for a home for a long time.

“They were drawn to the property’s functional floor plan, the space it offered and the suburb of Strathnairn,” he said.

“Not only is it a new area, but it’s also close to nature, the golf course and shops. Everything is right at their doorstep.”

Strathnairn is one of the newest suburbs of the ACT, welcoming its first residents in early 2020.

The suburb has a strong sustainability focus and was the first in the ACT to be awarded a six-star Green Star Communities rating.

Government records show the suburb’s previous sale record was held by 1 Keach Close, which sold in July for $1.129 million.

Mr Nappilly said he anticipated further records would be recorded in the suburb “as it continues to grow”.

“This has set a new standard for Strathnairn and we’ll see more of these sales as more properties come to market because there are a number of houses of this quality around,” he said.