Suburb records tumble with sales in Holt and Page via online auction

Two suburb records were broken over the weekend in the Belconnen region amid Canberra’s first wave of online auctions. 

The residential sales benchmark for Holt now sits at $823,000 with nearby Page at $947,500.

The house at 41 Cavill Close, Holt sold under the hammer on Sunday, via Auction Live  – an online end-to-end auction management platform – and surpassed the previous record by $38,000, which was set in January, 2019.

According to Ray White Canberra executive director Ben Faulks, the online auction on Saturday had 69 viewers tuned in and six registered bidders who participated.

Listing agent Phyllis Tidmarsh of Ray White Canberra said the four-bedroom house attracted many families throughout the campaign because of its “block size, renovation and adventure playground out the back”.

Government records show the house was last purchased in 2003 for $160,000. 

Ms Tidmarsh said the keys went to happy first-home buyers, “who have been renting and searching for the right home for some time”.

Elsewhere, the record-breaking house at 13 Luehmann Street, Page sold at auction on Saturday, surpassing the previous suburb record by $67,500, which was also set in January 2019.

Listing agent Troy Reddick of Ray White Canberra said the four-bedroom house was knocked down and rebuilt eight years ago.

Despite recent bans on traditional auctions, Mr Reddick continued with the property’s auction campaign.

“We know [auctions are] the best way to generate competition, and that showed with more than 120 groups inspecting the property while adhering to physical distancing measures,” he said.

According to Mr Reddick, the new buyers were a local family who were upsizing.

The new suburb records highlight how Canberra’s property market is still trekking on a high amid a changing real estate climate due to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to Domain senior research analyst Dr Nicola Powell, Canberra’s property market is quite resilient when it comes to worldwide crises including the global financial crises and SARS, and has a tendency to avoid the large price swings that could be seen in other cities.