Northern Beaches the star of packed Sydney auction weekend

Hot and blustery conditions over the weekend drove down attendances at some residential auctions in Sydney but the property market still turned in an improved sales result.  

Despite a big volume of 834 scheduled auctions on Saturday, the Domain Group posted a clearance rate of 70.2 per cent from the 568 reported results. The weekend clearance rate was higher than the previous weekend when a year-low clearance rate of 67 per cent was posted, but it was well down on the 81.6 per cent reported on the same weekend last year.

Many of the Super Saturday auctions were pulled forward to avoid a clash with next weekend’s Labour Day long weekend and the NRL and AFL grand finals.    

One factor that helped to energise the auction clearance rate was the scarcity of mid-priced family homes in some pockets of the city. Strong auction results in the northern beaches also contributed to the weekend’s higher success rate for auctions.

Given that the median house price in Sydney broke through the $1 million barrier last year, the city’s middle market is now firmly in the $1 million to $2 million price range. And that was the price point which prompted some of the most competitive bidding duels at the weekend.

Two properties in Castle Hill auctioned by Ray White attracted multiple bidders.

Selling agent Karl Anthony said a house on a 1399-square-metre battleaxe block at 53A Parsonage Road drew six registered bidders. The property had a $1.3 million reserve and sold for $1.365 million.

A three-bedroom/two-bathroom townhouse at 6/4-8 Kerrs Road, Castle Hill, was even more hotly contested before it sold under the hammer for $990,000.

• Related: Click here for Saturday’s auction results
• Related: Click here for the Market Snapshot

“We had over 100 groups of people through the property,” Mr Anthony said. “The $900,000 to $1.2 million market is a really good price point right now. There are a lot of people looking in that range: Baulkham Hills is going through the roof purely because of its price point.”

He noted that townhouses and houses below $1.2 million in the north-west were performing strongly but properties above $1.5 million were a bit harder to sell because many prospective buyers couldn’t stretch that high.

Closer to town, there was spirited bidding for some high-end apartments.

Rowe Partners Real Estate elected to auction a sub-penthouse in Manly on Sunday.

Principal Jake Rowe said a Sunday auction gave added focus to the property and avoided the “chock-a-block” auction timetable on Saturday.

The roomy four-bedroom apartment drew six registered bidders, five of whom bid. The successful bidder, an out-of-area downsizer from Northbridge, scooped up the keys for $2.72 million, which was $220,000 above reserve.

“Four-bedroom apartments are hard to find in Manly and in general,” Mr Rowe said.

Another top-end property that did well was a four-bedroom home at 1112 Pittwater Road, Collaroy. It sold through McGrath Seaforth for $3,925,000, while a three-bedroom house at 2 Dick Street, Henley, was sold for $3,850,000 by BresicWhitney.

The most expensive house reported sold at auction was a four-bedroom home at 3 Tabalum Road, Balgowlah Heights. It fetched  $4.1 million through Clarke and Humel.

In the affordable price ranges, there was often cautious bidding. Many mid-priced homes that were tested at auction appeared to sell for “on the money” prices modestly above their reserves.

In Lidcombe, 18 kilometres west of the city centre, LJ Hooker knocked down an older-style home on a large block at 13 Bombay Street. It sold for $1.4 million to a couple who were downsizing from Strathfield.

“Most of the buyers were talking $1.35 million, so we were kind of on the money,” said LJ Hooker Granville sales manager Jason Gebran.

“We had eight registered bidders and four of them placed bids.”

The auction opened at $1.2 million. The bidders deployed increments of $10,000 and $5000 during the latter stages.

Mr Gebran said the auction was “a bit of a struggle” with numerous gaps and pauses between bids.

Across town, PRD Nationwide sold a house at 77 Monterey Street, Monterey, for an on-the-money $1.5 million. 

“It just hit reserve,” said the agency’s Charlene Lukunic .

“The auction was a bit smaller in numbers than we had thought but I think that’s the market at the moment.”

Domain Group chief economist Andrew Wilson said the number of properties being reported sold before auction was continuing to climb.

Some 169 homes were reported sold before auction at the weekend which was well up on the 109 reported “sold before” a month ago on August 19. “It indicates that more sellers are prepared to take a price beforehand and avoid selling under the hammer,” Dr Wilson said.     

He added that a remarkably strong result from the northern beaches, with a clearance rate of 85.2 per cent, pushed up the overall Sydney clearance rate.

This region was followed by the upper north shore with 79.4 per cent, the lower north with 76.7 per cent, the inner west with 72.6 per cent and the south with 72.2 per cent. The city and east and the west each notched up 71.1 per cent, the north west scored 55.8 per cent, the central coast 53.8 per cent and Canterbury Bankstown 50 per cent. The south west posted a weekend clearance rate of just 45.7 per cent.