Sydney auctions: Northern beaches family get $250,000 more for home than neighbours did last month
Neighbours, prospective sellers, buyers and other onlookers were seen crowding the auction for a North Curl Curl house this weekend, with many hoping to gauge how the market would perform this year.
The crowd of about 60 people got their answer when the Headland Rd house sold for $3.35m under the hammer – $500,000 over the reserve price.
It was also about $250,000 higher than what a similar house on the same street sold for in December.
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Selling agent and auctioneer Eddy Piddington of Stone Real Estate said the sellers were stoked with the result considering they would have been happy to accept a price near the $2.85m reserve.
Auctioneer Eddy Piddington at the North Curl Curl auction. Picture: Tim Hunter.
“They’re over the moon,” he said, adding it was the first time the deceased estate was on the market for decades.
There were 11 registered bidders at the auction – a mix of developers and owner occupiers.
Mr Piddington said the main appeal of the property was the potential to add value with a knockdown-rebuild project.
“The house was older. A lot of the interested buyers wanted to move in and possibly replace the house at some point in the future,” he said.
At about 400sqm, the block was a fairly average size for the area. “It’s a high price considering the size,” Mr Piddington said. “The biggest blocks in North Curl Curl are about 600-700sqm.”
The North Curl Curl auction. Picture: Tim Hunter.
Bidding opened at $2.8m and went up quickly. Most of the developers registered to bid were reported to have dropped out when the bidding hit $3m.
“It was only the emotional bidders left after $3m, the developers had a limit where they could get a profit,” Mr Piddington said.
The buyer was a family from nearby Beacon Hill seeking an upgrade. They were understood to be planning a rebuild project a few years after living in the home.
It was Sydney’s first weekend of significant auction activity this year and the nearly 350 auctions hosted yesterday and over the week was the first real test for the market since mid-December last year.
Mr Piddington said some would-be buyers and sellers were waiting on results before deciding what to do.
The market had been slowing in the latter stages of last year, largely due to a flood of new listings in the weeks after the winter lockdown ended, coupled with a normal spring bump in sales.
There were also reports of exhausted home seekers putting their plans to move on hold after getting increasingly priced out of the market.
Housing experts said there was likely enough momentum in the market from last year to ensure some fairly competitive auctions, but opinions have varied on just how strong the market will be this year.