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A four-bedroom Bondi beach house, untouched by the owner for 40 years, sold for $8.525 million on Saturday after a fierce battle between five developers.
Drawn by the last original home to be released in a tightly held pocket at 50 Fletcher Street, seven parties registered and five made offers. They were all developers.
Bidding opened at $6 million before a bid of $6.25 million was placed. The third bid of $7.5 million put it on the market, above the $6.75 million guide and meeting its reserve.
Bids in increments of $250,000, $100,000 and $50,000 were placed until the final bid of $8.525 million closed the deal after 10 minutes.
The buyer plans to build a luxury family home. The vendor on the phone from Switzerland was thrilled with the result, $1.025 million above the reserve.
The home, which has no parking space, had been tenanted by the same person for 25 years. The last sale nearby was fashion mogul Simone Zimmermann’s $30 million purchase.
Selling agent Alexander Phillips from PPD Real Estate said the beach views drew the interest.
He said the number of registered bidders was double what it was this time last year.
The home was one of 759 scheduled auctions in Sydney on Saturday.
By Saturday evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 74.2 per cent from 481 reported results, while 82 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
In Roseville, 50 people gathered in a backyard under the morning sun at 10 Marjorie Street as three registered to bid and two competed for the five-bedroom property.
Bidding for the family home opened on the low end of the $4.5 million guide range. Bidding went up in $50,000 increments all the way to $4.8 million. Five final $20,000 bids took it to $4.9 million, where it sold under the hammer, meeting the high end of the guide and its reserve.
The battle was between a young family who had been renting in Roseville for the past two years and an investor. The family secured the keys.
The vendor is upsizing elsewhere on the north shore. Records show the house last traded for $2.6 million in 2014.
Selling agent Jessica Cao from Ray White Upper North Shore said all who viewed the property were impressed by its warmth and cosiness.
In Five Dock, a two-bedroom unit with two car spaces located at 9/20 Charles Street exceeded expectations when it sold for $1.15 million. The neat apartment attracted 11 registered bidders and five competed at the auction in the communal garden with 50 onlookers in attendance.
With no guide and a floating reserve in the mid-$900,000s, the comparison for most was the recent sale of unit 12 for $971,000. Bidding opened at $940,000 then climbed in mostly $10,000 and $5000 bids until it sold for $1.15 million.
The buyer had been renting in Coogee and the vendor will be upsizing to Drummoyne. The unit last traded for $542,500 in 2010, records show.
Selling agent Shad Hassen from The Agency Inner West said the low maintenance of the 50-year-old block, tidy presentation and double garage were all drawcards.
Hassen said buyers’ confidence has increased.
“I think the concern of interest rates has lapsed a little bit,” he said.
In Merrylands, a huge crowd of 80 people gathered to watch 25 people register to bid on 12 Lockwood Street. The interest was from mostly locals and was a mix of owner-occupiers and developers.
Eight made offers on the three-bedroom red brick home with no guide. Bidding opened at $1 million and went up in $50,000, $20,000 and $10,000 increments.
The home sold for $1.695 million to an owner-occupier from western Sydney. The house last traded for $535,000 in 2003.
Selling agent Paulette Ghaleb from LJ Hooker Granville/Guildford/Merrylands did not disclose the reserve but said it sold well above.
In Paddington, a four-bedroom terrace at 318 South Dowling Street with two car spaces passed in on a vendor bid of $2.1 million. Six registered to bid and two made offers – a young owner-occupier and an international investor.
Bidding opened on the guide of $1.6 million, rising $50,000 bids until $2.05 million. Then a vendor bid of $2.1 million was placed. The reserve was $2.2 million.
LJ Hooker Double Bay Group’s Aaron Del Monte said negotiations were still under way.
LJ Hooker’s head of research Matthew Tiller said the 74.2 per cent clearance rate was a good way to start the year and showed how robust and resilient the property market was despite last year’s rate rises.
“There is demand in the market. That’s evident by the clearance rate. So not just this week, but for the past couple of weeks. Generally we would expect that when listing numbers and auction volumes rise, clearance rates decline. But at the moment, demand is quite solid,” he said.
“Last year, we were talking all about how interest rates are going up. And I think this year, we’re going to be talking about how interest rates are going to go down and when are they going to go down, so the closer we get to that timing, the more confidence will come into the market.”
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