Your Domain: Hot auction in Sydney's south shows first-home buyers out in force

Young families and first-home buyers descended on a hot auction in south Sydney last weekend, as the spring selling season started to hit full stride.

Sydney recorded a clearance rate of 75 per cent  – a strong result compared to 49 per cent recorded this time last year.

Empty-nesters Trish and Rade’s beloved three-bedroom Bexley house was one of the 377 properties that sold under the hammer.

After living in the home for more than 25 years and raising their family there, they felt it was time to pass on the keys to new owners.

“We’ve enjoyed this house. It’s been a great family home, and it’s almost like … we don’t need it for the two of us anymore. It’s just the dog and us, basically, these days,” said Trish.

“Hopefully, another family [will] come along and enjoy it like we have.”

Come auction day, there was a large amount of buyer interest, with numerous young families inspecting the property ahead of proceedings.

“We are finding a lot more first-home buyers looking to start off [with their] first home,” said selling agent and director of Raine & Horne Bexley, Sam Epsimos.

The home’s key appeal  is its great location,which many of the would-be buyers had top of mind.

“We’ve got a young family, so we’re just looking for somewhere to cater for our children and make sure that we have a beautiful home in a nice suburb,” one couple bidding at the auction said.

“We’ve been looking quite hard for the last four months. It’s a good little pocket. Something that’s going to be thriving soon,” said another young couple.

“The neighbourhood has been really good. All the people who’ve been here [have been] here way before we have and they’re still here at the moment. So it’s the neighbours – that part of it is going to hit us really bad,” said Rade before the auction.

Bexley’s median house price, as revealed in the September Domain House Price Report, has increased 1.6 per cent over the past five years. For Trish and Ray, they were hoping to sell for $1.25 million at auction.

Bidding kicked off at $1 million, with  three young families quickly pushing the price over the reserve.

A fourth family then entered the fray at the very end, sealing the deal with a final bid of $1,345,500. The disappointment among the parties who missed out was evident as their search continues to find their family homes.

For vendors Trish and Rade, it was smiles all round.

“Very excited and very happy with the result,” said Trish after the auction.

“To be honest, I’m still so overwhelmed. I can’t believe we won that. We saw this place, and we liked it straight away. We’ve been anxiously waiting for this day to come for three to four weeks. I’m really happy right now,” said the lucky winner of the bidding.

Your Domain airs at 10am on Saturdays on Nine. Catch up on all episodes on 9Now.