A 1950s Collaroy house ripe for renovation has sold for $2.33 million to a young couple who considered the area for the first time a month ago.
The three-bedroom home at 30 Park Street was on the market for the first time since 1992 when it last sold for $260,000, records show.
It had no price guide throughout the campaign because there were such few comparable sales, according to listing agent and auctioneer Brian Fairweather of Ray White Narrabeen.
The home was one of 717 properties scheduled to go under the hammer in Sydney on Saturday. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 66.3 per cent from 498 reported results, while 123 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
The 697-square-metre block had no trouble drawing six registered bidders, including first-timers and upgraders across Sydney.
Bidding started at $1.8 million and went up in $50,000 increments for most of the auction as half took part in the sell-off.
It sold for $2.33 million to a local couple upgrading from south Sydney. The reserve was $2.2 million.
The happy buyers Manu and Kristen with vendor Pamela Sayers and agent and auctioner, Brian Fairweather at the Collaroy auction.Credit: Peter Rae
Happy seller Pamela Sayers said she bought the home in the 90s with the intention of renovating it but relocated to Canberra soon after and rented it to her sister instead.
Pamela said she was thrilled to sell it to a young couple to turn it into a family home.
“I’m happy with the result and I’m happy with the people who have bought it…it’s sort of handing it onto another generation,” she said.
The successful buyers Manu, 42, and Kristen, 33, were over the moon to walk away with the keys.
“It has been a few sleepless nights leading up to it,” Manu said. “It’s a beautiful area. So close to the beach.”
Kristen said she had never considered the Northern Beaches until a month ago.
“We live in the south [of Sydney]. We only saw this house three weeks ago, and hadn’t considered the Northern Beaches,” Kristen said. “My husband was trying to get me to look at the Northern Beaches, he said ‘come look at the house,’ and I just fell in love with the area.”
In Concord, a five-bedroom house at 13 Alton Avenue sold for $3.9 million to a family upgrading from a neighbouring suburb.
The 620-square-metre block, which allows for duplex redevelopment, had a guide of $3.5 million and four registered bidders – all families looking to upgrade except for one builder-developer.
Bidding opened at $3.4 million and rose in varying increments as all vied for the keys to the property. The reserve was $3.8 million.
Horwood Nolan’s Ben Horwood said there were plenty of buyers out there, but some had strict budgets in the current environment.
“There were some people who had hard-set limits. It wasn’t an auction that dragged out for a long period of time…[those with limits] pulled up stumps pretty quickly.”
In Eastlakes, half a dozen buyers, a mix of downsizers, upgrades and investors, registered to bid on 18 Robinson Street.
The three-bedroom house had a $2.3 million to $2.5 million guide and was described as good value compared to the surrounding suburbs of Kingsford, Kensington and Bondi.
An opening bid of $2.4 million kicked off the auction with four buyers raising the price from there in $50,000 and $25,000 for most of it.
It sold for $2,685,000 to a downsizer from Vaucluse who outbid an investor who wanted to purchase it for their children as a way into the property market. The reserve was $2.65 million.
McGrath Maroubra’s Ersin Esmek said it was a standout result because it was turnkey.
“It shows renovated homes are doing so much better than original homes,” Esmek said. “A lot of people are time poor and don’t want to renovate and want to move right in.”
He said not only was the location favourable but also the price point.
“Our area is still affordable for a lot of families. This house would have been $3 million in the surrounding suburbs. [Buyers from those areas] see more value in Eastlakes.”
Records show that the home last sold for $1,187,000 in 2014.