Massive gains as Super Saturday house sales smash reserves
RESERVE prices were smashed, houses were snapped up in minutes and profits exceeded expectations on a ‘Super Saturday’ of Spring house sales.
While Melbourne had its biggest auction day this year with 1350 properties going under the hammer, Sydney was selling just under half that number but with record results.
In a day which saw 87 per cent of properties sold before or at auction, one house in Sydney’s inner city suburbs fetched more than $500,000 above its reserve.
The terrace house, on one of Redfern’s noisier and “less popular” streets sold for an impressive $2.41m after a fierce battle between bidders on the footpath outside 260 Chalmers Street.
Bidding on the large, unrenovated terrace began at $1.7m with seven people actively vying for the purchase.
The four bedroom house last sold for $465,000 in 1997.
Another house, on Sydney’s North Shore, sold on Saturday for more than $350,000 above its reserve.
The three bedroom house at Huntleys Cove with uninterrupted water views, which last sold for $1.74 in 2012, fetched an incredible $2,458,169 the Sunday Telegraph reported.
Agent George Gialouris said he was shocked by the price which came in a fast auction featuring five registered bidders for the house which was built in 2000.
Even more rapid was the auction of a house in Sydney’s eastern Suburbs just 200m from the beach.
The Blackwood Avenue, Clovelly house was sold in three minutes, with the bidding opening at $2.9m and closing just eight bids later at $3.25m.
Stephen Smith of Sydney Slice property described bidding as strong and “quite aggressive” for the three bedroom, two bathroom house on a 371 sq m block.
The house was last sold more than 30 years ago for just $182,500.
Of the 556 properties up for sale in Sydney on Saturday, 481 were sold prior to or at auction.
In Melbourne agents set up for the biggest spring auction day this year, with around 1350 properties for sale and intense competition.
Clearance rates in many areas were between 44 per cent and 50 per cent
Buyers looking for an easy place to buy need look no further than the CBD, where the clearance rate was just 44.3 per cent from 70 apartments. Neighbouring Southbank also registered a low clearance of 50 per cent.
Many properties up for auction in the CBD were not the right type of property to auctioned; such as “dime a dozen” apartments which vendors had overpaid for, Greg Hocking director Adrian Petrucelli said, and an influx of those apartments was “hurting” the clearance rate.
They were struggling; selling below or within the price range, but unique properties attracted strong competition and results, he said.
Originally published as Massive ‘Super Saturday’ house sales