Auctioneer Andrew Cooley said there was a shortage of family homes. Picture: Sam Ruttyn
It’s not red hot – it’s a medium-high heat.
That’s the feedback from agents and auctioneers after another bumper weekend of auction activity across Sydney.
Close to 1,000 homes went under the hammer on Saturday and most sold for high prices but agents explained that the market was not quite at boom levels yet.
This meant vendors were getting prices higher than those who sold last year, and in some cases, attracted bids well above already inflated reserves, but nothing like the last market boom in 2021.
The difference: during the Covid-era boom, weekly auction clearance rates were over 85 per cent and prices rose by nearly 30 per cent in a year.
The success rate of auctions in recent weeks has been around the 65 per cent mark, with Sydney prices up an average of about 7 per cent compared to last year, according to PropTrack.
PropTrack described recent price growth as “above long-term trend” but far from the heights of previous booms.
Auctioneer Andrew Cooley, the director of Avenue Auctions, said the houses attracting the biggest prices were often family homes in suburban areas as these were in the shortest supply.
“There’s not a huge incentive for the owners of these types of homes to sell their properties. They’re staying put,” Mr Cooley said.
“It’s supply and demand. A lot of people want these types of properties, the forever home, but not many are available. It’s a thin market for these types of properties with a lot of buyers.”
Among the properties to attract the highest prices under the hammer was a “chateau-style” house in Lindfield, which traded at auction for $5.3m.
The guide for the Primula St home had been $5m. There was only one bidder.
Selling agent Jessica Cao of Ray White Upper North Shore said a young family bought the home.
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1 Primula Street, Lindfield sold for $5.3m.
“They used to own a chateau home in this area but they went overseas for a while and when they came back and saw another chateau home for sale they knew they had to have it.”
Earlier, a bidding war erupted between two parties at the auction for a five-bedroom house in Wahroonga, pushing the price to $4.15m, $300,000 over reserve.
Five bidders registered for the auction of the home on Bareena Ave, which occupied a substantial 935sqm parcel of land, but much of the auction was a showdown between two committed buyers.
“This was a real battle,” said auctioneer Chris Scerri. Selling agents Cavill Group noted there was scope to update the property.
5 Bareena Avenue, Wahroonga, NSW real estate.
Down south, four bidders registered for the auction of waterfront home on Matson Cres in Miranda that had last traded for $1.6m in 2020. The renovated home resold on Saturday for $3.962m.
Mr Cooley, the auctioneer for the property, said the reserve price had been “very optimistic” at $3.85m but the result far exceeded that. “It was a really big result for that property,” he said.
A dated Miranda house on the same street, which last sold in 1978 for $33,000, changed hands again earlier on the same day for $2.62m, $370,000 over reserve.
10 Matson Crescent, Miranda sold for $370,000 over reserve.
24 Matson Cres, Miranda sold for $3.962m. The 2020 price was $1.6m.
The four-bedroom house attracted nine registered bidders and a local couple were the buyers. A $33,000 price in 1978 would be equivalent to about $220,000 in today’s money, the ABS’s inflation calculator showed.
In the inner west, a Croydon Park house built in 2021, sold at auction for $3.29m. There were 6 registered bidders.
Selling agent Carlos Ouyang of McGrath-Strathfield said all the bidders vying for the Mitchell St home were young families looking to upsize.
Mr Ouyang said prior to the auction that it would be a good result if the home sold for somewhere in the “high $2ms”.
Auctioneer Emmanuel Comino received an opening bid of $2.8m and there was a crowd of about 40 people squeezed into the living areas for the auction.
The new buyers of the Croydon Park home
McGrath auctioneer Emanuel Comino received an opening bid of $2.8m. Picture: Nathan Smith
The buyers were Elly and Chris Wong, who are understood to be planning to move in. The Mitchell St block last traded in 2009 for $680,000.
