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A developer paid $3.92 million for a block of land in St Ives that they saw for the first time at auction on Saturday.
The 1,075 square metre block at 9 Myrtle Road was guided at $3.3 million and sold for $320,000 above its $3.6 million reserve.
There is no legal requirement for a vendor’s reserve to be in line with their property’s price guide.
Considered a knockdown, the property came with a three-bedroom house, but without photos, other than an aerial roof view and a floor plan. It was marketed as a land parcel to build a dream home or redevelop.
Eleven registered and four actively bid for the opportunity, the majority of whom were developers who had experience doing knockdowns.
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Bidding opened at $3.2 million and $50,000 bids raised the price all the way to $3.9 million, at this point the eventual buyer placed his first bid, an additional $20,000, which secured it under the hammer for $3.92 million.
Selling agent Krystel De Ruiter from DiJones Upper North Shore said, “A lot of buyers showed interest in the property… it’s a bit more of a frenzy.”
“This market seems to be really heating up in St Ives definitely for land at the moment, and that’s only been since the start of this year,” she said.
“Even with the increase of the cost of the new builds, it still doesn’t seem to be slowing down developers and buyers purchasing blocks of land to knock down and rebuild.”
The vendors had owned it for 60 years, and listed it off market for a couple of weeks before the four-week auction campaign.
The property was one of 849 scheduled auctions in Sydney over the past week. By Saturday evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 72.5 per cent from 570 reported results, while 94 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
In Manly, a one-bedroom apartment at 1/51 Pittwater Road guided at $1.1 million sold for $1,321,000 to an owner-occupier from the lower north shore.
Seven registered and four competed for the unit in the beachside suburb.
Bidding opened at $1,169,000 with $10,000 increments, however most strides were $1000 bids between two bidders.
LJ Hooker’s Tim Wirth said the two-storey flat was called on the market and sold “well over reserve” – although he declined to reveal what the exact reserve was, he said “it was around $1.2 [million].”
Wirth said, “We’ve probably got a two speed market. At the moment, properties that are well priced and matching what the typical buyer wants are selling very strongly, whereas we’re seeing properties that are a bit sort of quirky and outside the norm being quite price sensitive.”
The vendor was a first home buyer 16 years ago when, records show, it last traded for $480,000 in 2009.
In Neutral Bay, on busy Military Road, a four-bedroom semi at number 21 sold for $1,905,000, $305,000 above its $1.6 million reserve.
Guided at $1.5 million the character cottage estimated to be a century old had no parking except nearby council permit parking.
The six registered buyers were a mix of locals and investors, with three of them active.
Bidding opened at $1.5 million and went to $1.51 million then soared to $1.61 million, where it was announced as above reserve.
The next bid was strong and took the price to $1.75 million. Bids then decreased and came down to two active bidders bidding in $5000 and $1000 amounts before a full room of onlookers until it sold above expectations for $1,905,000.
Selling agent Nicholas Christou from BresicWhitney Lower North Shore said the auction was brought forward one week due to strong interest.
Christou said, “A lot saw this as an opportunity to get out of strata, which, for a lot of people, is appealing.”
The double glazed semi last traded for $685,400 in 2009, records show.
LJ Hooker’s head of research Mathew Tiller said Domain’s clearance rate of 72 per cent is “pretty positive.”
“It’s a bit of momentum from the rate cut that we saw previously… which has obviously helped borrowing capacity and serviceability of mortgages,” he said.
Tiller said “Talk now is of a rate cut coming on Tuesday, and one as well in August. Buyers are more confident to get out there and buy now and get ahead of the curve.”
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