Inner west Sydney block sells for $2.14m as builders vie for knockdown opportunity

A tightly-held house in the inner west has a date with a wrecking ball after selling $240,000 above reserve in an auction which saw builders go head-to-head for the development opportunity.

The three-bedroom Enmore house — split into two apartments — was one of 283 Sydney properties scheduled to go under the hammer on Saturday, one of the quietest auction days of the year so far.

By 6pm, Domain had recorded a clearance rate of 73.8 per cent from 193 reported auctions.

While the auction had to be kicked off with a vendor bid of $1.75 million, three of six registered bidders — all builders — competed for the 468-square-metre block at 41 Fotheringham Street.

Bidding soon passed the $1.9 million reserve and kept on climbing, slowing right down to $1000 bid increases before the gavel fell at $2.14 million.

Records show it last traded for $45,000 in 1986 – which accounting for inflation would be almost $120,000 today. Selling agent Michael Harris of Raine & Horne Newtown said the buyer hoped to build two homes on the block.

It was one of two back-to-back properties a local retired investor put on the market on Saturday, with a three-bedroom house at 265 Enmore Road going to auction straight afterwards.

Eight buyers, mostly young professional couples, turned out to compete for the 354-square metre property. Bidding started at $900,000, quickly pushed past the $1.2 million reserve, before slowing to $5000 and $10,000 increases.

The property, which last traded for $185,000, sold for $1,385,000 to a young local couple.

Mr Harris, who sold both properties, said he had only had one buyer interested in snapping up both properties, but they had decided against bidding on the day.

In the city’s north west, a whopping 21 bidders turned out for the auction of another tightly-held home – a North Epping house held by the one family for more than six decades.

Bidding for the 853-square metre block kicked off at $1.1 million and 17 bidders pushed the price $135,000 above reserve, making almost 50 bids before the hammer fell at $1,435,000.

The five-bedroom house at 241 Malton Road, sold through Catherine Murphy of The Agency North to a young couple upsizing from an apartment in West Ryde.

Several suburbs south east from there, it was a battle of the first-home buyers for a two-bedroom apartment at 19/29 Parkes Road, Artarmon.

The apartment, held as an investment property since it last traded for $485,000 in 2008, drew nine registered bidders. Bidding opened with an offer of $700,000, with competition from four of the buyers pushing the sale price to $852,000.

It sold through Catherine Ong of Laing+Simmons Artarmon to a young family from Lane Cove who wanted to buy into the Artarmon Public School catchment zone.

In nearby North Willoughby, a mix of downsizers, investors and first-home buyers competed for a two-bedroom semi at 226 High Street, on the market for the second time in less than 18 months.

Bidding started at $1.45 million and three of six registered bidders competed for the 316-square-metre block which sold for $1,616,000 through Jimmy Psaltis of Forsyth Real Estate.

The property last sold in March 2018. Willoughby’s median house price dropped 6.4 per cent over the year to March.