Sydney auctions: Young couple snap up original Randwick house for a cool $2.75 million

A Randwick house in original condition has sold for a cool $2.75 million to a young local couple.

A crowd of 50 gathered at 31 Castle Street to watch the three-bedroom property go under the hammer one week earlier than intended.

It was one of 495 scheduled auctions in Sydney on Saturday.

By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 65.9 per cent from 330 reported results, while 83 auctions were withdrawn.

SOLD - $2,750,000

31 Castle Street, Randwick NSW 2031

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An opening offer of $2.4 million started the sell-off, which was slow at the beginning.

But three of the five registered buyers raised the price in varying increments of $50,000, $20,000 and $10,000 bids.

The 400-square-metre block sold bang on reserve for $2.75 million to a local couple.

PPD Real Estate selling agent Debbie Donnelley said the sheer amount of buyers for the limited amount of houses on the market was holding up prices.

“We brought the auction forward by a week because there was a lot of interest and offers,” Ms Donnelley said. 

“Given that everyone wanted to do some work on the property it was bang on the money,” she added. “Apartments have come off the boil a little bit but actual houses are still quite strong.”

SOLD - $1,600,000

49 Mi Mi Street, Oatley NSW 2223

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In Oatley, a crowd of 60 were spread across a park to watch the auction of 49 Mi Mi Street.

An opening bid of $1.3 million kicked off proceedings as four of the six registered parties pushed the price up in $25,000 increments.

The hammer eventually fell at $1.6 million – selling $50,000 above reserve – to a Mortdale family looking to upsize.

Ray White Georges River, St George and Oatley selling agent Matt O’Shea said properties were selling at a fair price for all parties involved.

“[In] the last two weeks our stock levels have been the best they’ve been in the past six months,” Mr O’Shea said. “The last fortnight has been the busiest in terms of listing volumes.”

Successful buyer Shyrley Aleman said her family had been seriously looking for a property only in the past month.

“We weren’t quite sure if we were going to get it. We thought we’d give it a try and see what happens,” Ms Aleman said, adding the timing was not crucial as they were buying and selling in the same market.

“And if it was a 500-square-metre property with five bedrooms … there weren’t many [in the area in good condition].”

It last traded for $877,000 in 2009.