Reiki practitioner drops $2.54 million on first home in East Ryde at auction
A reiki practitioner picked up her first home in East Ryde for $2.54 million at auction on Saturday, outbidding wary upgraders.
Four parties registered to bid on the four-bedroom property at 12 Finch Avenue.
It was one of 790 homes scheduled to go under the hammer in Sydney on Saturday. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 57.3 per cent from 543 reported results, the second week in a row this measure has been below the 60 per cent threshold, while 165 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
The auction started at $2 million, below the $2.25 million price guide, as the first buyer was cautious about placing the offer.
But two more buyers entered the fray, quickly pricing out the initial bidder as they raised the price in mostly $10,000 increments.
The successful bidder aggressively counter-offered the underbidders the entire way until the home eventually sold for $2.54 million — $140,000 above reserve.
The happy purchaser, Camille Ducret, said she had only been looking for the past three weeks, in which time the market had begun to turn in buyers’ favour.
“I can see that the last couple of weeks when you go to auctions, there aren’t many people, not many buyers, sometimes it doesn’t sell, or you can tell that there isn’t a rush from the buyers to buy really, so from the buyers’ perspective it’s good.”
Ducret, a renter in Riverview, said this was her first home purchase.
“I’m actually a reiki practitioner, but I have to say this is savings from previous jobs. I was in banking before.”
The underbidders Steven Baillie and Pamela McMillan, who sold their home in January, said they were at peace with missing out on the property as they were confident the market was in their favour too.
“Even in the past two or three months we’ve seen a shift, not just in prices, but in the guides are becoming a bit more realistic too,” McMillan said.
The couple, who are now renting in Denistone East, are happy to wait until they find the home for the right price.
“We’re getting hustled a lot more [by agents] … things are changing,” Baillie said.
“We’re seeing the stock notifications flood. If you take four, five or six weeks ago it was few and far between.
“We could have bid like crazy and won it, but that’s where business and emotion need to harmonise.”
CobdenHayson Lane Cove’s George Gialouris said while the property could have fetched $2.7 million two months ago, the vendors were realistic and smart.
“You’ve got to be nimble in this market … the market is falling, and interest rates are increasing. The market could fall further, but it’s an unknown,” Gialouris said.
The property last traded in 1987 for $195,000, records show, the price increasing 13 times since.
Ryde’s median house price rose 30.3 per cent to $2.15 million in the year to March 2022 on Domain data.
In Concord, just two upgraders registered to bid on 7 Kingston Avenue, which was guided at $3.7 million.
The auction started at $3.4 million and after 10 bids the hammer fell at $3.8 million. The reserve had been $3.9 million.
Cooley Auctions auctioneer Michael Garofolo said the vendor was realistic and happy to meet the market on the day.
“We had the two best buyers there who wanted it … [the buyers and vendors] ended up meeting in the middle and got the deal done, and it represents a good result and a fair price,” Garofolo said, adding that more vendors would have to do the same.
“In saying that, I’m not insinuating they need to drop their price to sell – they’re putting a bit of juice, fat or cream that may have been there a few months ago.
“Even though we might not be right at the top of the market when you look at the past 12 or 24 months, you’ve seen unprecedented capital growth, so you’re still seeing good prices.”
The property last traded in 1998 for $390,000, records show, the price growing almost tenfold since then.
Concord’s median house price rose 25.7 per cent to $2,715,000 in the past year to March.
In Freshwater, a first-home buyer couple bought a two-bedroom unit at 1/46 Wyndora Avenue for $1.33 million.
Four parties registered to bid, but only half participated in the auction, which started at $1.25 million, bang on the price guide and reserve, and was over quickly.
Cunninghams Real Estate’s Michelle Galletti said the deceased estate could have sold for $1.5 million at the same time last year.
“It’s a good result for now, it’s definitely come off,” Galletti said, adding that the uncertainty around interest rates was a drag on the market.
She said while this home had some differentiating features such as a courtyard, a lock-up garage and being close to the beach, stock standard units were “hurting” more.
The unit last traded for $425,000 in 2002, records show, the price almost tripling in 20 years.
Freshwater’s unit median rose 19.1 per cent to $1.12 million in the year to March 2022.
In Hurstville, 10 buyers registered to bid on a newly finished six-bedroom house at 22 Smiths Avenue.
Bidding opened at $2.8 million and six buyers made offers. It sold to a local buyer upgrading from another house for $3,535,000. The reserve was $3.5 million.
Ray White Hurstville selling agent Allen Yan said the market was definitely shifting but upgraders were able to trade in their existing properties.
“All the bidders who came today had an existing house in the market so if they buy this one and sell theirs the gap is not big,” Yan said.
“Even though the market is shifting if you sell and buy at the same time then the market doesn’t really matter.”
The property last sold for $890,000 in 2013, records show, the price almost increasing four times in less than a decade. Hurstville’s median house price rose 20.8 per cent to $1,751,500 in the year to March.
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