Dad buys $2.9m home for daughter, sellers slash prices: Sydney’s best auctions of 2024
Sydney’s auction market started the year strong, but as 2024 wore on, the tide turned in favour of buyers – as long as they had plenty of cash.
As the months passed and the hope of interest rate relief faded, more owners listed their homes for sale, buyers held out for rate cuts and fewer properties sold under the hammer.
As the year began, buyers were hoping for a rate cut as early as June, and Sydney’s auction clearance rate hovered around 66 per cent to 68 per cent in the first quarter. Economists have since pushed their forecasts back to February or May.
Buyers were out in force, even for homes that didn’t tick all the boxes. Some 23 parties registered and nine actively bid for an uninhabitable Bondi semi that sold to a young couple for $2.41 million in February. The same weekend, a first home buyer couple outbid 23 others for a $1.86 million Dulwich Hill fixer-upper with asbestos in the garage.
Parents stepped in to help their children, which also helped support the market.
A bidding contest ensued between two couples for a two-bedroom Glebe terrace for their adult children and it sold for $3.08 million.
A father bought a $2.7 million five-bedroom Forest Lodge terrace near a university so his daughter and her four friends would have a share house to rent.
The Bank of Mum and Dad stayed popular even as price growth softened, because homes remained unaffordable. A Bellevue Hill father bought a $2.91 million four-bedroom Marrickville house for his daughter. He inspected the property just 30 minutes before auction.
Another dad helped his daughter in her 20s buy a $1.6 million Marrickville house with no kitchen.
As the months passed it became clearer rate cuts could be delayed. By April the clearance rate slipped to 63 per cent, and some vendors had to adjust reserves to meet the market. A three-bedroom Prairiewood house had its reserve slashed from $1.1 million to $1 million.
A winter chill started to set in, and by June the clearance rate was 62.5 per cent. When a Rockdale auction stalled at $1.48 million, the sellers agreed to meet the market and reduce their $1.5 million reserve.
Buyers had more choice than usual this spring.While coastal areas lend themselves to the spring selling season, some vendors had to sell due to mortgage stress and serviceability issues.
A Gladesville family home drew only one bid at auction, passed in, and sold in post-auction negotiations for $4.25 million in September.
Sydney’s clearance rate slipped to 58.6 per cent in October, below the key 60 per cent threshold for the first time this year, Domain data showed. A clearance rate of about 60 per cent suggests a balanced market.
In November a two-bedroom apartment in Dee Why sold for $1.44 million, below its $1.45 million reserve. A first home buyer from Waterloo paid $2.33 million for a renovated Zetland terrace, some $20,000 less than reserve.
It was not unusual for homes to pass in at auction or to be withdrawn from auction, particularly in the latter half of the year, as buyers were reluctant to stretch themselves financially. The double-digit bidder numbers of autumn dwindled by spring.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Dulwich Hill investment townhouse was listed with hopes of $1.9 million, pulled from its October auction, reduced to a guide of $1.75 million, then sold at that level in late November.
Even in a weaker market, some sellers made bank this year, especially long-term owners. A Stanmore house fetched $4.01 million, more than doubling its price in 16 years. The vendors, who downsized in a sea-change move, bought the home for $1,585,000 in 2008, records show.
A Collaroy house that last sold for $260,000 in the 1990s transacted for $2.33 million, while a three-bedder in North Ryde sold for $2.52 million. It’s believed it last sold as an empty block for about £300 in the mid-1950s.
The prestige market appeared unbothered by interest rate hikes.
A four-bedroom, waterfront home in the suburb of Chiswick, sold for $13.3 million, while a six-bedder in Strathfield sold for $12.25 million, $2.25 million above its reserve.
A local family paid $20 million for a six-bedroom Darling Point home with a wine room and lift, while half a house with ocean views in Bronte sold for $13 million, $2.5 million above reserve.
There were a handful of quirky results too. A Wahroonga house with a bedroom for a dog sold for $9.1 million, while a buyer who only saw a Strathfield property on FaceTime moments before auction paid $4.95 million.
Some experts predict a surge in buyers next year with an anticipated rate cut. But with the uncertainty of Sydney’s market, it’s anyone’s guess.
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