‘It’s a buyers’ market’: First home buyers snap up $1.8m inner-city home

A first home buyer couple from the lower north shore won the keys to a tri-level home in Alexandria, paying $1,803,000 under the hammer on Saturday.

Bidding for 28 Gerard Street opened at $1.55 million, $50,000 below the guide of $1.6 million. Auctioneer Damien Cooley then took bids of $10,000 in quick succession until it hit $1.8 million, when they dropped back to three bids of $1000 and the hammer fell.

The three-bedroom property had a reserve of $1.75 million.

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

Brad Gillespie, sales agent for The Agency, said he was expecting four bidders to attend based on requested contract amendments, but two groups pulled out at the last minute.

“One said something had come up but the other said it was an issue with finances,” he said.

The Reserve Bank this week raised interest rates for a fifth time this year to 4.85 per cent.

Gillespie said confident bidding and a result above the reserve was indicative of growing confidence at this end of the market.

“We all know it’s a buyers’ market and vendors know that as well,” he said. “If it’s a property they really like, [buyers] should be going for it.”

The vendors are looking to upsize.

The property was one of 671 scheduled to go to auction in Sydney this week.

In Randwick, a family with plans to “flip” the property won the keys to the apartment with a balcony and parking space, paying $812,000 at auction.

The two-bedroom unit at 1D/12 Bligh Place was a mortgagee in possession sale following a deceased estate.

Bidding for the property opened at $650,000, followed by a $50,000 bid. Increments then fell back to bids of $10,000 until it reached $800,000, when it dropped back to several bids of $1000 and the property sold. It had a guide of $750,000 and a reserve of $725,000.

Seven parties registered to bid, with four raising their paddles.

One family member of the successful bidders is a builder. Angus Gorrie, sales agent for Ray White Eastern Beaches, said while the apartment was “fixable” he estimated it would cost at least $150,000 to renovate it.

“[The successful bidders] knew what they were getting themselves into,” he said. “A lot of people walked away.”

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