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A young man with friends living in the same street won the keys to a single level terrace house in Erskineville for $1,025,000 on Friday night.
Eight people registered to bid for the unrenovated home at 8 Flora Street, with most interest coming from builders looking to capitalise on the property. Once the auction began, three parties raised their paddles, with bidding opening at $700,000 and going up in increments of $50,000 until it reached $950,000. It eventually slowed to just $1000 bids before the hammer fell.
The property had a guide of $900,000 and a reserve of $1,050,000. There is no legal requirement for a vendor’s reserve to be in line with their property’s price guide.
The three-metre wide, one-bedroom house was built around 1880 as part of a row and in the 1960s was home to a family of six, plus two dogs and some chickens.Those who had lived there as children were among five beneficiaries for the deceased estate.
The new owner plans to renovate to a liveable state but does not intend adding another level to the house, which is less than 50 square metres.
Ray White Erskineville sales agent Shaun Stoker said the price reflected the current state of the market, as well as the motivations of the respective bidders.
“Ninety per cent of the underbidders were builders, and they weren’t willing to go over $1 million because of the cost of the materials. But the young man who bought it doesn’t have to make a profit,” he said.
“To get a property around that $1 million mark in Erskineville now is near impossible. I have not seen this price in Erskineville in 10 years. It’s as cheap as you can get – an unliveable house on a small pocket of land.”
The property was one of 63 scheduled to go to auction in Sydney this week.
There were far fewer auctions scheduled in Sydney on Saturday as many real estate firms postponed sales or closed completely for the Anzac Day long weekend.
In nearby Glebe, a three-bedroom terrace within the Abbey Estate sold prior to auction on Friday for $2.38 million. The property at 156G Bridge Road had a guide of $2.1 million.
“No reserve was set. We were hoping for $2.4 million or more, but the market has been a bit unpredictable,” Ray White Erskineville sales agent Matt Carvalho said.
Reserves aren’t traditionally set until auction day.
The vendors were a couple relocating to New Zealand. While it had been their primary home since buying it off the plan more than 10 years ago, it had been an investment property for the past couple of years.
The new owners were returning to Sydney after living in Canberra. They had lived in Glebe in the past and were looking for a contemporary home with good natural light and parking. The north-facing home set over two levels is in a corner position with a double lock-up garage.
“I had shown them something in Hereford Street [Glebe] in a townhouse development, but they had missed out on that. It was the one that got away and nothing compared to that [until this came up],” Carvalho said.
Carvalho said the market had begun to settle after weeks of uncertainty.
“I think the market in the past couple of weeks has improved,” he said. “There are more buyers in the market and a lot of vendors have adjusted their expectations in light of buyer feedback.
“It’s been a transition market and an adjustment, although buyers adjusted straight away.”
In Redfern, a dual level apartment in Moore Park Gardens also sold prior to auction on Friday for $865,000 to a first home buyer.
The one-bedroom apartment at H213/780 Bourke Street had a guide of $850,000. No reserve had been set.
The vendor had been holding the property as an investment.
Sales agent for The Agency Brad Gillespie said buyers were attracted by the apartment’s position in Hopetoun Terraces, part of the award-winning development.
“Moore Park Gardens is a very popular building, it always has been,” he said. “This is a good development, built well.”
He said vendors increasingly understood that they needed to “meet the market”.
“It’s a neutral market right now where it’s good for a buyer and good for a seller. We will be on this road for a while.”
