Investors pay $3.71 million for Freshwater apartment block

Motivated buyers battled icy air and competitive auctions to clinch property across Sydney on Saturday, including a $3.71 million sale in Freshwater.

The price achieved was for a three-apartment, double-brick block on 390 square metres in the salubrious waterside suburb.

Sales agent James Smyth, of SEA-Smyth Real Estate, admitted he was “absolutely stoked” with the result.

The on-site sale drew three registered bidders who had shown pre-auction interest around $3.1 million, he said.

Smyth said the successful buyers were investors who would likely enhance the seven-bedroom, partly renovated, block less than 200 metres from the waterfront.

The strong sale was preceded by a lengthy campaign because of the way Easter and Anzac Day fell this year.

“We had a long campaign, it was a bit scary to be honest but I am really stoked we finished where we did,” he said. “It was quite frigid on site and quiet to start, like every auction.”

Bidding for the property started at $3.1 million and increased in $50,000 increments before slowing down towards the end of the auction.

Domain Group figures put Sydney’s clearance rate at 59 per cent based on 348 scheduled auctions.

On the other side of the city, in Caringbah South, eight rival buyers braved single-digit temperatures to bid at the 9am auction of a three-bedroom house on a family friendly cul-de-sac.

Agent Sarah Street, of Greg Gilbert Real Estate, described the auction as “cracking”. The final two bidders increased the eventual sale price to $1,501,000 with competing $500 bids.

The listing’s prospective buyers were “a mixed bag of people” including owner-occupants, renovators and those with their eyes on rebuilding, Street reported.

“Bidding started at $1.3 million and competitive bidding moved in $20,000 lots until it was on the market, and then these two bidders took it over $1.5 million,” she said.

“There were about 40 people, but, of course, the time and the temperature has an impact on crowd numbers.

“It felt like zero degrees – at 9am, I can report, it was cold.”

Heading west to Merrylands, another strong auction took place when eight active bidders tussled for a single-storey, three-bedroom house with reputed development potential.

Bidding for the deceased estate started at $900,000, before the home sold under the hammer for $990,000.

“It is one of the best streets in the suburb because you get the city view in that street if you put on a second storey,” said agent Sylvana Bakir, of Harcourts.

The successful buyer planned to rent the house while planning a rebuild on its 639-square-metre block, Bakir said.