Art deco apartment with train line views sells for $789,000

2 weeks ago 5

A 65-square-metre site apartment in an art deco building with a view of the train line sold to a first home buyer for $789,000 in Woolloomooloo on Saturday.

The east-facing apartment at 8/150 Forbes Street, Woolloomooloo is in a building constructed in 1937 and designed by architects Brewster and Manderson. It was conceived with the streamlined features of an ocean liner and was originally used as a vehicle showroom and offices before being converted into apartment in the 1980s.

The one-bedroom apartment in Woolloomooloo is east-facing with high ceilings.

The one-bedroom apartment includes a mezzanine-style loft bedroom with storage, high ceilings and an open-plan kitchen and living area.

The property was one of 959 scheduled to go to auction in Sydney this week.

Bidding for the property, which had a price guide of $725,000 to $750,000, opened at $700,000 with three active bidders placing increments of $5000. The reserve was set at $750,000.

The underbidders planned to place the property in a trust.

Agent Nuri Shik of BresicWhitney East said that at this end of the market, buyers were motivated by rental costs.

“They’re really wanting to buy because rents are so expensive,” Shik said.

On the south side of the city, a five-bedroom, three-bathroom house at 36 Budyan Road, Grays Point sold for $2,825,000 to a family from nearby Gymea looking to upgrade while still being near their children’s schools.

The property’s price guide was $2.5 million to $2.6 million. The initial reserve of $2.7 million was reduced during the auction to $2,660,000 as four active bidders competed. Bidding opened at $2.2 million and stalled at $2.5 million before picking up again.

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

Agent Ben Jensen of Alex Pitsis Group said the underbidders were a local couple who wanted to buy the fully renovated home, rather than renovate their own property.

Agent Ben Jensen said the open-plan design of this five-bedroom home at Grays Point appealed to a wide audience.

Jensen said part of the appeal of the property was its proximity to bike trails and a nearby boat ramp for the Georges River.

“Grays Point is great if you love outdoor activities,” he said. “It’s an old-school Australiana community where kids can ride their bikes to the shops.

“If you have a floor plan like that, it opens the market to different clients – downsizers and families with young kids and older kids. Most houses in the shire were built in the ’60s and ’70s, and they haven’t been upgraded, so the floor plans don’t flow.”