Apartment that looks like house sells for $1,356,000 in the inner west

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First home buyers outbid fellow debutants for an unusual apartment in Marrickville, in Sydney’s inner west.

The single-bedroom home at 2/12-14 Gladstone Street – which is a strata unit but part of a 1910-built terrace – sold for $1,356,000 under the hammer.

Marrickville’s unit median price is $887,000 on the most recent data from Domain.

The property was one of 920 scheduled to go to auction in Sydney this week.

Nine bidders registered and four took part. Most were first-home buyers – including the under-bidders – and one was a couple from Canberra who were relocating to Sydney.

The property is one of three apartments in a pair of Federation-era terraces that were subdivided in 1997.

Bidding opened on the price guide of $1,050,000 but the auction took a while to wind up, eventually nudging past the $1.15 million reserve in increments of $20,000 and $10,000.

There is no legal requirement for a vendor’s reserve to be in line with their property’s price guide.

“Everyone was in a holding pattern, watching and seeing who would make the first move,” agent Norman Tran of Adrian William Real Estate said.

First-home buyers won the keys to a unit in Marrickville for $1,356,000 at auction on Saturday.

Bidding trickled to $5000 and $1000 before the hammer fell in favour of a young local couple.

“They had initially been looking at two-bedroom houses in the area and then switched their focus once this property came onto the market because it was an interesting option, being that it’s an apartment but it looks like a house,” Tran said.

The property is one of three apartments in a pair of Federation-era terraces that were subdivided in 1997.

In Forest Lodge, a one-bedroom apartment was also a hot commodity among first-home buyers.

In a brick complex with a city view, 5/31D Charles Street sold to an elated first-home buyer for $650,000, which was $10,000 more than the reserve.

The neat, 57-square-metre pad had a pre-auction guide of $580,000.

The young buyer, from Camperdown, was surrounded by family during the auction and prevailed over two other first-home buyers and a man bidding on behalf of his mother. All four registered parties took part.

The Agency’s David Giezekamp, listing agent and auctioneer, pushed back on a “cheeky” opening bid of $555,000. A responding bid of $580,000 got the auction under way.

Giezekamp said it was a “vibrant” contest to the finish, and that a cheer went up from the buyer’s support group when the gavel came down.

“The buyer had gone for another property recently, and he missed out, so he was very keen to lock this one away,” Giezekamp said.

Downsizers are on the move in Burraneer after buying 4 Portview Place for $4.21 million.

Three bidders took part from five that registered, and all were locals, either downsizers or upsizers.

Interest in the four-bedroom house during the campaign was in the mid- to high-$3 million bracket, agent Wendy Samrani of Ray White Caringbah said.

The new owners, who take the keys from vendors who have held it since the 1980s, live walking distance away.

The property’s decor of exposed brick and timber-clad walls and ceilings spoke to an era gone by. However, the glittering water view, from a privileged position on the Burraneer Peninsula, sealed the deal for $370,000 more than reserve.

“The property was dated, but all the buyers were happy to do the renovations for the location and the lifestyle,” Samrani said.

“It’s in a blue ribbon, small cul-de-sac and a tightly held location. The beach is just around the corner, and what was so special about it was the uninterrupted panoramic water views that will never be built out.”

A water vista was also a factor for the family who bought a home in Chipping Norton.

The four-bedroom duplex at 2/161 Epsom Road, with a deck and garden that backs onto the Georges River, sold for $1,210,000, leaping $130,000 above the reserve.

Bidding opened on the campaign guide of $1 million, spurred by four bidders from the 10 who had registered. The mix included first-home buyers, families seeking their second home, and an investor.

Two bidders, both second-home buyers, jostled until the end, agent Tyrone Bilbija of BOS Realty said. The investor threw in a bid, and though first-home buyers registered, they did not participate.

“Chipping Norton is a very popular area, and lots of families want to move in,” Bilbija said. “It was a great opportunity to get into the market at that sort of price point, especially with those waterfront views.”