Vendors cut price hopes to sell $2.3m Lane Cove North house
A young family upsizing from an apartment paid $2,382,000 for a two-bedroom freestanding house in Lane Cove North at auction on Saturday, as the vendors cut their reserve price to sell.
The single-level house at 18 Ralston Street drew three registrations and came with a pebbled path and an enclosed backyard, plus period touches such as detailed cornices and leadlight windows.
The property was one of 706 scheduled to go to auction in Sydney last week. By Saturday evening, Domain recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 53 per cent from 410 reported results throughout the week, while 133 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
Bidding for the Lane Cove North house began at its $2.2 million guide and climbed in $50,000, $20,000, $5000 and $1000 increments between two families.
The outcome came down to a $1000 bid from the underbidder, then the winner bid an extra $1000.
The reserve of $2.4 million was adjusted to sell, and the property sold under the hammer for $2,382,000.
Belle Property’s Patrick Lang said it was the buyers’ “first time buying a house.”
He said it was a “real entry point for a freestanding house … a great Australian dream, man.” Lang added the property with its fenced yard was perfect for growing families.
The buyers are from Wentworth Point. The vendors live in Melbourne. The home last traded for $269,000 in 1994, records show.
In Rozelle, a three-bedroom terrace with charming Victorian features and scope for buyers to add their own stamp fetched $2.57 million post-auction.
The two-storey home at 14 National Street had views to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, three fireplaces and an outdoor toilet.
Three parties registered and all three participated. One was a builder and two were young families.
Bidding opened at $2.3 million, well below its $2.5 million guide and in small rises of $5000 and $10,000 crept up to $2.54 million over a one-hour period.
An adjustment was made to its $2.7 million reserve and the property passed in on a vendor bid of $2.6 million.
Negotiations continued post-auction in a series of phone calls between two bidders. On the evening of the auction the terrace sold for $30,000 less than its adjusted reserve of $2.6 million for $2.57 million under auction conditions.
BresicWhitney’s Andrew Liddell said, “My experience is that property decisions are driven by sentiment, and the lack of sentiment and the lack of urgency in the market is creating a fairly cautious environment.”
The home was in the same family for 40 years.
In Balgowlah, a two-bedroom unit at 2/450 Sydney Road, Balgowlah with hopes of $1 million sold to an upsizer for $978,000.
Guided at $900,000 originally, the guide was lifted to $925,000 after a week.
Four registered, including two first home buyers and one investor. Three made offers on the flat.
Bidding opened at $927,000 and rose in small increments of mostly $1000 lots. Its $1 million reserve was adjusted down, and it sold under the hammer for $978,000 to a buyer from Cremorne.
LJ Hooker’s Tim Wirth said his vendor recognised the market.
“Given the state of the market, she was ... satisfied with the result, but disappointed that we were selling now rather than say, in February,” he said.
“Opening bids were like trying to pull teeth. It was very, very slow to start … but at the end of the day, seeing competitive interest was, I guess, positive.”
The vendor is from Canberra and had held it as a Sydney bolthole and investment for 30 years.
AMP’s chief economist Dr Shane Oliver said Domain’s clearance rate of 53 per cent for Sydney is “not a good result”.
Oliver said the auction clearance rate is a good indication of buyer sentiment as it is timely and comes out every week, unlike other indicators which are monthly.
“It’s a good timely indicator, but of course, it reflects both demand and supply,” he said.
“In recent times I think the clearance rate has been helped a little bit … since late June because of the slump in listings, but demand has remained very weak for us through that period.”
Oliver said the main three factors depressing demand and keeping the clearance rate low are, “rising interest rates, tax changes keeping investors on the sidelines and low levels of confidence.”
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