Run-down Castle Hill house on quarter-acre block sells for $425,000 above reserve

As economists fear Sydney property prices will continue to tumble, buyers were out in force on a wet Saturday morning in the city’s north-west trying to snap up good-value homes in the falling market.

A strong crowd of about 50 people turned up for the auction of a run-down three-bedroom home in Castle Hill with a backed-up registration queue even as it was slated to kick off at 10am. Half of the crowd registered to bid.

“I’ve never seen so many paddles,” said one bystander.

Bidding for 4 Tuckwell Rd opened at $850,000 and quickly escalated to the million-dollar mark after a handful of $25,000 bids made by seven parties who threw their hats in the ring.

It turned into a two-horse race after $1.35 million. The hammer eventually fell at $1.405 million after a final $1000 bid. It sold for a whopping $425,000 above the reserve.

The property, which is set on a 968-square-metre block, last sold for $530,000 a decade ago.

Local resident Cicilia Lie nabbed the keys to the property after selling her house in a nearby street.

“It’s a nice, flat block and I can build a house that I like,” said Ms Lie, who had been looking to upgrade in the same area so her kids could attend the local schools.

Neighbouring resident and builder James Liu said the buyer walked away with a bargain.

“I think this is good value for this land because after this month the train will be going through and in the future you can build a townhouse or develop it. It’s a wide, decent block. It’s really good. I’m a builder, [I know] it’s good value,” Mr Liu said.

“This is a bargain. It’s a good location. [A property] close to the train station and shopping centre will never go down [in price over the long term],” he said.

The home was a deceased estate and the former owner’s 94-year-old brother had driven from Dubbo to watch the auction take place.

Last year’s property market finished on a low with an auction clearance rate hovering in the 40 per cent range and price drops across the city, and economists have been tipping further falls. Castle Hill recorded a 16.6 per cent decline, one of the steepest drops in Sydney’s downturn, Domain data shows. The postcode has a median price of $1.335 million.

But selling agent Paul Conti of Ray White Castle Hill said he was thrilled with the result as it bucked the trend.

The vendor had initially hoped for $1 million to $1.1 million but agreed on the day to reduce the reserve to $980,000 to meet the market, before securing an even better sale.

“[It] was a genuine auction with no price guide. Had I put a price guide on this property … we would have never achieved this price,” Mr Conti said.

Auctioneer James Kerley said the roughly quarter-acre block offered a blank canvas near to the local shopping centre and soon-to-be-installed metro which was a huge drawcard for interested buyers.

“I think … being so close to so many amenities in a blue-chip location and the size of the land were all part of the recipe which made it go off,” Mr Kerley said.

But he stopped short of predicting similar results could be replicated elsewhere.

Despite the strong result in Castle Hill it was slim pickings for Sydneysiders as the property was one of only 101 scheduled auctions across Sydney in the first auction weekend of 2019.

By evening, Domain Group had recorded a 48.8 per cent clearance rate from 64 reported results.

On the northern beaches, a double-brick red home on 6 Willawa St in Balgowlah Heights was snapped up by a local family for $2.14 million— $60,000 below reserve.

Selling agent Mark Griffiths of McGrath Seaforth said it was a good result regardless.

“Those who are trying to pick the market, or wait, or are too aggressive – they’re not going to own places,” Mr Griffiths said.

In Sydney’s south, a two-bedroom house on 8 River St in Earlwood passed in at a vendor’s bid of $930,000.

Selling agent Gerry Bernhardt of Raine & Horne Bardwell Park said the vendors set an unrealistic reserve in a slowing market but were now confident of selling in post-auction negotiations.

Another auctioneer in the northwestern suburbs, Stuart Benson, believed sellers were now acutely aware of the downturn and had either factored it into their asking price or decided to hold on and weather the storm.

“Because of this, I’m seeing fewer homes coming onto the market. It feels like we’re headed towards a shortage of stock,” Mr Benson said.