Huge weekend of auctions sees aggressive bidding from buyers in Sydney

A  large freestanding home close to Coogee beach, sold for a massive $1 million above the reserve, in a hot weekend of auctions in Sydney.

The five-bedroom home at 163 Coogee Bay Road, which  is just 350 metres from the sand, sold under the hammer for $5,555,000.

NG Farah Malabar partner Cameron Airlie said 13 bidders registered, with seven aggressively bidding for the home that was listed for the first time in 45 years.

SOLD - $5,555,000

163 Coogee Bay Road, Coogee NSW 2034

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Being one of the few freestanding residential properties so close to the beach in Coogee,  made it a much sought-after property. 

“There was some pretty spirited bidding across the board,” Mr Airlie said. “I can’t recall [during my career] it being this aggressive.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, the excited vendors were celebrating before the final hammer had fallen.

“They were thrilled,” Mr Airlie said. “When the auction hit $5 million they were literally popping champagne bottles in the house. I could hear all these corks popping in the background.”

The lucky vendors weren’t the only ones celebrating. By the end of the weekend, Sydney’s preliminary clearance rate sat at 86.3 per cent, after 624 auctions were listed and 480 results reported. 

There were 41 properties withdrawn from auction that were counted as not being sold as part of the clearance rate.

For the third weekend in a row, Sydney’s auction clearance rate sat above 80 per cent.

Domain senior research analyst Nicola Powell said the market was still being fuelled by record low interest rates.

With news the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out would begin this week confidence was growing, Dr Powell said.  

Although listing numbers were down on this time last year, this may not last for long. 

“With such strong results, more vendors will be enticed to the market eventually and while housing finance is as it is, the market is going to remain heated.”

A home in need of some serious TLC in Sydney’s inner west also sold for well above the reserve on Saturday.

The four-bedroom home at 60 Service Avenue, Ashfield, sold under the hammer for $2.5 million, well above the $1.9 million reserve, Cobden & Hayson Lane Cove’s Peter Gordon said.

SOLD - $2,500,000

60 Service Avenue, Ashfield NSW 2131

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Eleven bidders were registered. Six of them actively bid to own the Queen Anne-style home, which was in almost original condition.

Mr Gordon said the vendors, who were excited by the result, inherited the home after their parents died. The three siblings had grown up in the home, he said.

“The people who bought it are planning to do a really sympathetic renovation and not strip the character out of it,” he said.

Another fixer upper, also in Sydney’s inner west, sold for $475,000 above the reserve.

The three-bedroom, semi-detached home at 62 Marlborough Street, Leichhardt, sold under the hammer for $1,875,000.

SOLD - $1,875,000

62 Marlborough Street, Leichhardt NSW 2040

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Dib Chidiac, of the DIB CHIDIAC agency, said there were 11 registered bidders fighting for the keys to the property.

It was the first time the property had been listed for sale, with the original owner moving into aged care. 

A young couple from the eastern suburbs snapped up the home and plan to completely renovate it, he said.

 In Burwood, a five-bedroom house sold under the hammer for $3.18 million in a late Saturday afternoon auction.

The sale price of 16 Gordon Street was well above expectations of between $2.2 million and $2.5 million, LJ Hooker Burwood’s Joe Murania said.

SOLD - $3,180,000

16 Gordon Street, Burwood NSW 2134

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Sixteen bidders, all of them families, registered for the auction, with most wanting to rebuild a home on the 461-square-metre block. 

Mr Murania said bidding was coming “left, right and centre”.

“In the end, it came down to two people really fighting it out — it was very quick and there were very, very large bids,” Mr Murania said. 

Iin Sydney’s eastern suburbs, an opening bid of $2.5 million on 41 Mill Hill Road, Bondi Junction, saw the home put instantly on the market.

 Reaching the reserve in one bid it then sold for $2.85 million.

SOLD - $2,850,000

41 Mill Hill Road, Bondi Junction NSW 2022

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Belle Property Bondi Junction’s Edward Brown said six registered bidders, three of them active, competed for the three-bedroom home.

A young family were the successful buyers, relieved to have finally been able to buy something after some months of searching. 

There were several buyers very determined to find their next home, Mr Brown said. “There are lots of people desperate to buy, the desperation has now hit a new level,” he said.