Early start to auction campaigns pays off for sellers in upper north shore

Upper north shore agent Alex Mintorn’s decision to open for business earlier in the year than usual has already paid off for a handful of his vendors.

The McGrath Wahroonga agent has sold three properties in the past 24 hours. Two of them were on the market for just 13 days and the other was supposed to come to market today.

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Mr Mintorn said there were more buyers around than he had seen at the end of 2020.

“There are heaps of new buyers and lots of people left over from last year who have been looking for three to six months,” he said.

“It’s definitely been worth it (coming back early) – we’ve listed another four properties this week.”

Two of the three sold properties – 18 Fox Valley Rd, Wahroonga and 53 Boronga Ave, West Pymble – were among five properties Mr Mintorn was planning to take to auction on the area’s first big auction day of the year.

There are now just 13 auctions scheduled on the upper north shore on that date, the majority of them houses.

There are a few apartments, one semi and an eight-bedroom duplex in the mix.

The Fox Valley Rd home was being marketed with a guide of $3 million. It sold for $3.38 million. The property has been held by the same owner for more than 20 years, last trading in 1999 for $740,000 according to CoreLogic records.

The Boronga Rd property had a guide of $2.7 million and sold for $2.83 million. It had also been held by the same owner for many years, last trading in 2006 for $695,000, CoreLogic shows.

Details of the third sale of another property in Boronga Ave, which was due to come to market this week, have not been revealed.

Mr Mintorn came back to work earlier than usual this year in a bid to make the most of his theory that buyers would take up where they left off at the end of 2020.

“The market was so hot before Christmas and it seems that is going to continue – I think there will be some big price in the next few weeks,” he said.

Mr Mintorn expects some of the other properties he is due to take to auction on January 30 will sell early.

“There are a lot of buyers out there who have been looking for three months,” he said.

“They have all sold and are worried about prices going up and are trying to buy as close to the market they sold in.

“There’s a little bit of fear in the market that prices are going to get away.”

Stock, particularly houses, was expected to remain tight this year, which would also drive prices, he said.

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