Following Tuesday’s interest rate rise and ongoing buyer caution, Saturday delivered a surprising flurry of competitive bidding, particularly for buyers battling for some of Sydney’s most sought-after postcodes.
According to a preliminary reports from PropTrack, there were 761 auctions scheduled in Sydney this week, up 18 per cent year-on-year.
It comes amid a dip in clearance rates, NSW last week recording just 37.25 per cent, and an April six-year low, according to SQM Research.
“There is no doubt it is an interesting time in the market, with the latest interest rate rise on Tuesday paired with the Federal Budget being announced next week,” Ray White NSW Head of Auctions Dave McMahon said.
“This uncertainty has clearly led to buyer hesitation, as we averaged 3.2 registered bidders and 1.9 active bidders per auction.
“We’ve also seen more properties proceed to auction day, with only 15 per cent withdrawing and 18 per cent selling prior.
“Our clearance rate for the week remains at a healthy 63 per cent, continuing to signal that well-priced properties are still achieving strong results.”
Certain properties on Saturday proved to be bucking the downturn.
A Paddington two-bedroom house sold for $2.495m, clearing its $2.1m reserve and guide of $2.2m.
Auctioneer Briannan Davis of Cooley Auctions at 21 Stafford Street, Paddington on Saturday morning. Picture: Sarah Wilson
With seven registered bidders, six active an opening bid of $2m saw multiple $50,000 bids follow.
The residence at 21 Stafford Street had a close call at $2.35m, before a new bidder came in at the $2.4m mark, who was the eventual buyer.
Multiple $5,000 to $15,000 bids followed, before the hammer fell.
Lead agent Emily Davidson of Sydney Sotheby’s International Realty Double Bay said it was quite an emotional sale of the deceased estate, a family home that was purchased in 1995 for $400,000.
Its appeal, largely due to the suburb and future potential.
“You’re right in the heart of Paddington, you’re elevated,” Ms Davidson said.
“It does lend itself to be developed into the future.”
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21 Stafford Street, Paddington
Inside the two-bedroom home
Amid uncertainty, Ms Davidson said this category of home continues to be performing well.
“Paddington, what I’ve found it’s quite resilient,” she said.
“You have a lot of people that are upsizing, downsizing, especially young professional couples that are wanting to enter the market, this price point seems to be performing still really well.”
Buyer George, who attended with his sister, said the location was a main driver.
“It’s a really quiet and wide street for Paddington,” he said.
“It’s beautiful and lots of potential.”
He said entering late was strategic, but his price limit was looming.
“Wait until the end and just go really quick and hard,” he said.
“This was getting really close to the limit.”
Auctioneer Briannan Davis said it was great to see some competitive competition, especially in the current market. Picture: Sarah Wilson
Auctioneer Briannan Davis of Cooley Auctions said it was great to see some competitive bidding, especially in the current market.
“I feel like we had previously a little bit of hesitation over the past month or two, however, in the last week or so, I’ve actually seen competitive bidding at auctions,” she said.
“Even though we’ve had the rate hike, there seems to still be confidence returning to the market after everything else that’s happened over the past couple of months.”
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In the Inner West, a four-bedroom house at 5 Allen Street, Glebe sold under the hammer for $4.355m.
With seven registered bidders and four active, it cleared its guiding price of $3.7m and $4m reserve selling via Bresic Whitney Inner West’s Chris Nunn and Hanna Kim.
Mr Nunn said there was around 100 people in the auction crowd, “it was a pretty buoyant auction,” he said.
“There was even a couple of people that only decided in the last 24 hours they would attend.”
16 Northumberland Street, Clovelly
In Clovelly, a five-bedroom house sold under the hammer for $6.77m, clearing its $6.65m reserve.
With four registered and four active bidders the home sold under the hammer via Auctioneer Clarence White of Menck White Auctioneers.
He said there was strong bidding, but buyers were “a little cautious” around their increments.
The residence at 16 Northumberland Street, Clovelly sold via Alexander Phillips and Thomas Fuller of PPD Real Estate.
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