Young couple outbid builders for $1.65 million rundown Rozelle home

The inner west continued its sizzling-hot run on Saturday when a dilapidated timber house in Rozelle sold under the hammer for $1.65 million, $250,000 over reserve.

It follows last Saturday’s sale of a tin shed in Glebe which reached $1.69 million at auction, far beyond its price guide of $1.4 million. Last weekend’s clearance rate for the inner west rose to a bullish 87.7 per cent.

The region has seen phenomenal growth with a 66 per cent rise in value over five years to a house median of $1.55 million. Units have fared even stronger with a growth of 75 per cent to a median of $1,155,000.

Domain’s chief economist Dr Andrew Wilson said demand for inner west property is likely to track well ahead of supply. “The inner west remains Sydney’s most resilient suburban region recording consistently high clearance rates from high auction volumes over the past three years,” he said.

By Saturday evening Domain Group had collected 510 auction results and put the clearance rate for Sydney at 79.5 per cent.

“It was yet another boom result for Sydney,” said Dr Wilson. “Which is good news for sellers ahead of next weekend’s spring super Saturday of auctions.”

The four-bedroom Rozelle cottage at 3 Hartley Street was an enter-at-your-own-risk offering with signposts warning the public to supervise their children and forbidding punters from stepping onto the rotting deck.

Its condition however didn’t deter buyers. Selling agent Gerard McCarthy of McCarthy Real Estate had shown 62 groups through the house including buyers from the eastern suburbs and north shore looking for better value in the inner west.

Builders from across Sydney had eyed the quirky knock-down on a steeply sloping 221 square metres for construction projects. Three of them offered bids through the auction including one who called through the sunroof of his car after being declared by his friend to be too hungover to get out.

After 22 bids, a young Birchgrove couple, Sarah and Stefano Sacco trumped the builders with their call of $1.65 million. They plan to rebuild a new four-bedroom house with a pool and garage.

Underbidder Armen Boghosian, 36, a builder, was philosophical. “There are a few more opportunities out there,” he said. Mr Boghosian had planned to demolish and rebuild a two-storey house with high-end finishes to take advantage of the city view. He will continue his search from Annandale to Rozelle.

“These areas were asleep,” he said. “Now people are waking up to the great location and proximity to the city and they’ll pay for it.”

The Saccos are well aware of the value of the location. They had missed out on six other properties before snagging Hartley Street in a determined but composed manner.

“We’ve had to compete against builders so we knew what the mark-up had to be,” said Mrs Sacco. “All the properties we researched and bid for went $200,000 over the guilde.”

Vendor Liz Smith was overwhelmed with the result. “I had hoped for $1.5 million so this is a nice bonus.” Ms Smith retired and moved to Cygnet in Tasmania in 1998 leaving the house to tenants. “It’s deteriorated since I was living here,” she mused. “If someone wants a good project, this is it.”

Ms Smith added the upper-level flat in 1986 with the help of architect Phil Thrum.

Auctioneer for the Hartley Street house Tom Panos works exclusively in the inner west region. He says a shortage of stock is fuelling the high clearance rates. “In my 29 years working here this year will be my highest clearance rate,” he said.

He believes December is the best month of the year for buying. “Most people are running around doing Christmas shopping and nursing hangovers from Christmas parties,” he said. “Vendors want closure before Christmas so they’ll accept offers they may not have earlier in the year.”

In Newtown, a two-bedroom house at 43 Baltic Street sold before its first open inspection. Selling agent Richard Lane of @Realty said buyers are doing everything they can to secure properties ahead of auction and before Christmas.

Lane had listed the single-storey terrace with a price guide of $1.05 million but sold it three days later for $1.3 million to a couple who had missed out on several other properties in the area. The house last traded in 2011 for $685,000 and had only minor cosmetic improvements.

In Sydney’s north-western suburb of Cherrybrook a property sold for $348,000 more than its reserve breaking the 2016 suburb record with a $1,987,000 sale price. Auctioneer Stu Benson of Benson Auctions had 20 registered buyers, five of whom registered as bidding started for the four-bedroom house at 19 Hibiscus Place.