Key points
- Sydney recorded a 68.5 per cent preliminary auction clearance rate on Saturday.
- A Manly house had a reserve of $6 million and sold for $10.5 million.
- A family spent $8.7 million on a five-bedroom home in Longueville.
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An entire beachside apartment block in Tamarama sold for $13 million at auction on Saturday to a buyer who plans to knock it down.
The unison of the owners of four unrenovated two-bedroom apartments at 19 Dellview Street meant any buyer could demolish and rebuild. Interested parties were developers with knockdown-rebuild plans, two friends who wanted to build a house each and somebody who wanted to rent it out as is.
Four parties registered to bid and two actively bid in aggressive $500,000 increments.
Bidding opened at $8.8 million and the auction was all over in five minutes in front of a crowd of 50.
It was one of 659 homes scheduled to go under the hammer in Sydney on Saturday. By Saturday evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 68.5 per cent from 438 reported results, while 86 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
The block sold for $2.5 million above the $10.5 million guide to a builder and developer who plans to knock it down and build either four luxury units or two luxury homes.
An entire beachside apartment block in Tamarama sold for $13 million to a buyer who plans to knock it down.Credit:Domain
Selling agent Alexander Phillips from PPD Real Estate declined to share the reserve but said the three vendors, one of whom owned two units, were ecstatic.
Three sales above $13 million including this auction result were reported in the area this week.
“I think it’s shown by the size of those results that the [upper end of the market is] strong and selling well,” he said.
Phillips said buyers at that end of the spectrum included celebrities, investors and families upgrading.
Across the water, 71 Stuart Street in Manly soared $4.5 million above its $6 million reserve, reaching a final price of $10.5 million at auction.
Five registered to bid, and three actively participated until the $6 million mark then an underbidder from inner western Sydney carried it to $10.4 million and the winner placed a final $100,000 bid.
The three-bedroom house opposite Little Manly Beach was purchased by a local, upgrading from an apartment. The vendor had lived there for 15 years and was downsizing.
Selling agent Mark Skeens from Stone Real Estate Manly said the property stood out due to its location.
“In general, the market’s come off in the last 10 months, but the top end of Manly is still doing really, really well,” he said.
AMP Capital chief economist Dr Shane Oliver said Saturday’s 68.5 per cent clearance rate means the market is down from the previous week.
“We may have seen the peak. There’s still a lot of headwinds for the Sydney property market,” he said, adding the roll-off of homeowners on low fixed mortgage rates could lead to an increase in listings and the economic slowdown ahead could dampen the property market.
“We’re seeing an upswing from last year in clearances, and that is being led to some degree by the upper end of the market. It’s unusual to the extent that we don’t normally see upswings when interest rates are still rising, normally that requires interest rate cuts.”
Around the corner, an unrenovated apartment in the distinctive circular Kilburn Towers, the first sight of Manly when coming via ferry, sold for $2.29 million at auction.
The fifth-floor, three-bedroom apartment at 53/1 Addison Road, with direct water views and lift access was purchased by a retiree downsizing from the Hunter Valley. He plans to renovate and live there.
Eight registered to bid and four actively participated in the deceased estate auction. Bidding opened at $1.8 million and passed the reserve price of $1.9 million.
Selling agent Elliot Fahey from McGrath Manly said the market is tracking well in Manly.
“Stock’s really low and there’s obviously lots of buyers out there trying to get in before further interest rate rises. We’ve had a lot of demand lately. To have eight bidders at an auction, that was unheard of six months ago,” he said.
In Longueville, on the Lower North Shore, a family from Lane Cove purchased a five-bedroom home for $8.7 million.
Four locals registered to bid and all participated in the auction for 19 Stuart Street.
Bidding opened at $7 million and sold $200,000 above the reserve of $8.5 million.
The vendor, a widower who built the home with his late wife, was planning to move to Clontarf. He had been assisted by sellers advocate Julie Buchanan from Cohen Space.
“It had a great result,” she said. “We were hoping for around the high sevens, thinking we might get eight or just over eight [million].”
Selling agent Simon Harrison from Belle Property Lane Cove said the classic north-facing family home ticked a lot of boxes.
“Most times, you probably have a few limitations that people have to accept, but this one was extremely popular from the get-go for those reasons,” he said.
“So the land size and house itself was very spacious.”
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