Enmore vendors cut price hopes as Sydney’s clearance rate drops

An Enmore house sold for $1,686,000 at auction on Saturday after the vendors adjusted their reserve to sell in a week when Sydney’s clearance rate dipped to 48 per cent.

The three-bedroom house at 28 Juliett Street features a striking timber and glass back wall and soaring ceilings as well as period fireplaces and leadlight details.

The property was one of 796 scheduled to go to auction in Sydney last week. By Saturday evening, Domain recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 48 per cent from 481 reported results throughout the week, while 177 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

The early result is a drop from last week’s preliminary result of 53 per cent as the number of auctions scheduled increased and economists warned of the chance of another Reserve Bank interest rate rise this month. It is below the 60 per cent threshold considered a market balanced between buyers and sellers. But it remains just above the June low point of 47 per cent, when buyers were absorbing the May budget’s changes to the tax treatment of investment properties.

The Enmore home was listed with a price guide of $1.7 million and drew two registered bidders at auction, both of whom participated.

Bidding began at $1,635,000 and the price rose slowly, punctuated by the selling agents going inside to check how the vendors wished to proceed.

The reserve price was $1.7 million but the vendors, who had owned the home for close to three decades, decided to meet the market.

A young couple buying their first home together won the keys, beating a local upsizing couple.

Raine & Horne Newtown selling agent Adam Freitas said the sellers had planned to live there but never did, and instead offered the property for rent. They decided to sell as they approached retirement, he said.

“The owners’ expectations were quite realistic,” he said.

He described the market broadly as “not great”, and flagged the potential for another interest rate rise.

“Buyers are scared. There is a lot of uncertainty around what they want to do,” he said. “It is a bit of a wait-and-see situation at the moment.”

Elsewhere, a Lane Cove family home sold for $3.1 million to a neighbour who registered to bid mid-auction.

The three-bedroom house at 22 Myee Crescent backed onto Lane Cove River, offering river views and a swimming pool. Its price guide was $2.7 million.

Five parties registered in total and all made bids. Only four had registered – all families – when the auction began with a bid of $2.2 million and rose in increments of $100,000 at first, then $50,000.

The fifth bidder registered deep into the auction and placed only two bids to buy the home. The reserve for the deceased estate was $2.9 million.

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

Nicholls & Co Estate Agents selling agent Cameron Nicholls said the winner lived close by and thought the home was good value.

“For a property like this one to be sold in a market like this, someone is going to be buying it very well, because it is really being sold for the view and the position,” Nicholls said, adding the home needed work and the new owner might renovate or rebuild.

“They had the confidence to bid higher than everyone else because they knew how good it was in that little pocket.”

He praised the “beautiful aspect” and the unobstructed river views. “It was such a perfect little spot, nice and quiet being a crescent and not a street.”

In Glebe, a young woman paid $1,795,000 for an updated terrace to live close to family.

The two-bedroom home at 5 St James Avenue had a price guide of $1.6 million to $1.7 million.

Nine parties registered and three participated, starting at $1,601,000. It soon became a two-horse race between two younger couples.

Increments ranged from $10,000 and $5000 down to $2000 offers.

The home was a deceased estate. The reserve was $1.7 million.

Ray White Erskineville/Alexandria/Glebe/Surry Hills selling agent Matthew Carvalho thought the market had improved in recent weeks.

“With the value, people have noticed everything has come back a bit, and stock is getting tighter,” he said.

In Clovelly, a young couple buying their first home paid $1.5 million for a two-bedroom apartment in a battle of the first home buyers.

Six parties, all debutants, registered for 4/316 Clovelly Road, guided at $1,375,000.

Five parties bid, starting from $1.3 million and making bids in $25,000 increments above the reserve of $1.4 million.

Ray White Eastern Beaches selling agent Angus Gorrie said government assistance was helping first home buyers, who had also watched the market drop in recent months.

“They are bidding with confidence,” he said.

Agents in conjunction were Sydney Sotheby’s International Realty’s Cristian De Nigris and Thorsten Herzog.