'Worst house in best street' in Bellevue Hill sells for $5.4 million at auction
A Bellevue Hill home owned by the same family for 94 years sold at the weekend, with the vendors relieved the buyers would be restoring the property rather than knocking it down.
The three-bedroom home at 97 Beresford Road, which was part of a deceased estate and in need of a major renovation, was snapped up by another family for $5.4 million.
The sale price was “well above the expectations”, Sydney Sotheby’s International Realty managing director Michael Pallier said.
Ten bidders (of the 15 registered) fought it out for a chance to own the home in the sought-after harbour-side suburb. An opening bid of $3.7 million set the scene.
“You know how they say buy the worst house in the best street? Well, I think that’s what this was,” Mr Pallier said.
The vendors were extremely happy to learn the house would not be torn down but, instead, would be returned to its former glory.
“It was quite emotional for the family because it was the end of an era,” Mr Pallier said. “They were very happy the buyer said they were going to restore it.”
The auction was one of the biggest reported results for the weekend – one of 781 properties scheduled to go under the hammer on a sweltering weekend in the harbour city.
Buyers were out despite the heat, with Sydney’s preliminary auction clearance rate sitting at 78.1 per cent, after 556 results were reported. There were 73 properties withdrawn from auction, which were counted as not sold and did not contribute to the clearance rate.
In Sydney’s inner west, a home that was just four years old sold under the hammer for $5,925,000, making it another of the standout sales at the weekend.
The buyer of the seven-bedroom home at 21 Barker Road, Strathfield, had been looking for a property in the suburb for more than two years.
He was one of five registered and three active bidders on the day.
“It’s really the first home he’s ever been interested in in two years,” Belle Property Strathfield director Norman So said. “I’ve shown him everything from land value lots to other homes and he’s always picked them apart. He liked this home from the get-go.”
The resort-style property included a swimming pool with a rock face waterfall and a slide. It also featured two mature dragon trees for which the vendor paid $70,000 each, including their transport and installation via crane, Mr So said.
“I was expecting the house to sell for $5.8 million-ish at a bare minimum because of the land size and the luxury finishes,” he said.
The vendors were trading up to move to the north shore to be closer to schools for their children, Mr So said.
In Five Dock, also in Sydney’s inner west, a four-bedroom home sold under the hammer for $2,146,000 against a $2.1 million reserve.
Eight bidders registered to buy the four-bedroom home at 1 New Jersey Road, with three of them competing for the property.
The bidders included developers who were looking to tear down and rebuild on the 474 square-metre block and owner-occupiers wanting to restore the home and live in it.
Bidding opened at $1.8 million, and a quick succession of bids saw it pushed above the reserve price, selling agent Raine and Horne Concord’s Ross Musso said.
The buyer was planning to tear down the home and build two townhouses, and the vendor will be moving closer to family in another part of Sydney, he said.
“The whole family was there so it was a really good result for them,” Mr Russo said.
A three-bedroom home in the beachside suburb of Bronte sold at the weekend for $515,000 above its $1.9 million reserve. A family snapped up the home for $2,415,000.
The house at 19 Read Street, part of a deceased estate, attracted eight registered bidders, with four of them participating.
PPD Real Estate partner Jason Pantzer said the address was highly sought after because it was just a few blocks from the beach.
It came down to two bidders, an investor and the ultimate buyers – a young family – competing for the keys.
“The vendors had owned the property for more than 50 years,” Mr Pantzer said. “There is a change of generation happening in property particularly around Bronte at the moment.”
In Birchgrove, a family looking to move back to Melbourne to be closer to family sold their newly renovated four-bedroom home. The property at 102 Short Street sold under the hammer for $3.6 million.
Lead agent Belle Property Balmain’s Monique Dower worked with Madeleine Russell on the sale. Ms Russell said four bidders registered, three of who actively bid for the property.
“The buyers were a lovely couple from Cremorne with a one-and-a-half-year-old son,” Ms Russell said.
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