More records tumble at auction as Sydney housing market continues to boom

A new kind of street brawl has been erupting across Sydney as home seekers battle at crowded auctions outside the city’s scant supply of available properties.

There were close to 400 auctions this weekend and preliminary data showed nearly nine in 10 of the properties that went under the hammer sold.

Multiple homes attracted more than 20 bidders and prices hundreds of thousands above reserve were the norm.

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Veteran auctioneer Rocky Bartolotto said the market was so hot that sales were becoming difficult to predict.

“It’s hard for buyers to come up with (bidding) tactics that will work when there’s 20 bidders or more,” he said.

This weekend’s strong sales came as research group CoreLogic revealed Sydney prices have shot up by an average of 5.7 per cent since October.

The rise has pushed prices to historic levels and price records are being smashed all across the city.

Auctioneer Stu Benson of Benson Auctions said he had never seen anything like the current market.

“I don’t say that flippantly, it’s just hard to even describe it,” Mr Benson said. “I don’t think it’s simply a fear of missing out anymore. People genuinely want somewhere to live but they have so few options and if they’re buying and already sold then the clock is ticking.

“When we see people buying houses at huge prices at auction, we don’t see remorse at the price, there’s relief they will actually have somewhere to live.”

Among the standout sales this weekend was a three-bedroom unit in northern beaches enclave Manly Vale, which sold at auction yesterday for a new suburb record price.

The property in a building at 8 Koorala St sold for $1,467,500, about $6000 higher than the previous highest price for a unit in the suburb paid back in 2017, according to sales records.

Selling agent Eddy Piddington said the high price was the result of Manly Vale attracting buyers who had been priced out of nearby suburbs such as Manly and Fairlight.

“They tend to pay premium prices because they are used to the prices in Manly,” he said.

Another three-bedder in the same building sold two weeks ago for about $1.22 million, showing just how quickly the market has been accelerating.

Records were also broken in East Lindfield on the upper north shore, where a newly-built luxury house on Woodlands Rd sold for $5.53 million – a record for a property under 1000 sqm.

In the St George area, a vendor who was “seriously considering” accepting an offer of $1.1 million for their house in Bexley North in December sold at auction yesterday for $395,000 higher.

The price for the three-bedroom house on Cannonbury Grove was $1.495 million — $195,000 over reserve. The auction attracted 12 registered bidders, including three groups who had never seen the house before, according to listing agency Adrian William.

Agency director Adrian Tsavalas said the vendors were close to accepting the $1.1 million offer last year but the deal fell through when the buyer failed to get financing.

“The vendors were seriously considering it,” Mr Tsavalas said, adding that the price jump in the past few months was because of rampant demand.

“There is an unquenchable thirst from buyers for square metres. Anything with land is doing well. Everyone wants their own foothold in Sydney and in Bexley they are getting spillover from buyers priced out of the inner west.”

In nearby suburb Beverly Hills, a dated house on Caloola Crescent sold for $1.525 million — $325,000 over the reserve.

The buyers were understood to be planning to bulldoze the house and replace it with their “dream home”. A dozen bidders registered with selling agent Hayden Duncan of McGrath-South Hurstville.

Another house with knockdown potential, in Grigg St, Oatley, sold for $2,057,500. The reserve was $1.75 million and 10 buyers registered to bid.

Auctioneer and Avenue Auctions director Andrew Cooley said the sale was just one of many hot auctions in the area this weekend.

“We had a roaring (Saturday),” he said. “Everything is selling and it is selling well … it’s a bit crazy.”

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