Sydney auctions: humble red brick cottage sells for $4m on day of big sales
43 Nield Ave, Rodd Point sold for $4.01 million at auction.
Auctions across Sydney’s inner west were some of the most competitive this weekend as home seekers grappled with an acute shortage of available properties.
Listings have been rising across the north shore, west and eastern suburbs in recent weeks but popular inner west suburbs have yet to see the same increases.
It meant multiple buyers were funnelled into the same auctions, with one Rodd Point sale attracting 25 registered bidders.
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The stiff competition helped push the price for the original red brick house adjacent to Neild Park to $4.01 million – $610,000 over reserve.
The single-level house, dwarfed by neighbouring two-storey properties, has water views across the park and is footsteps from the popular Bay Run.
Auctioneer Chris Scerri said buyers were trying different tactics but the verdict was out on whether they worked. Picture: Julian Andrews
It was the first time the Neild Ave property changed hands since 1974 and most of the bidders were families hoping to replace it with a larger, modern house.
Selling agent Jim Piper of Time Realty said the price was much higher than the vendors ever expected. The opening bid for the 567sqm property was $3 million.
In Leichhardt, a three-bedroom house on Walter St sold for $1.863 million after attracting interest from 13 registered bidders.
Selling agent Santos Sulfaro of Cobden and Hayson revealed some of the bidders only saw the property for the first time that morning.
The Leichhardt property sold for more than $300,000 above the price paid for identical neighbouring properties last year.
Auctioneer Jake Moore calls bids at the Leichhardt auction.
The price was $213,000 above the $1.65 million reserve and more than $300,000 above what the identical next door properties sold for last year. “The neighbours were happy to hear they had made $300,000 in just a few months,” Ms Sulfaro said.
A pokey inner city terrace with a narrow yard sold under the hammer for just over $1.6 million after attracting nine registered bidders.
The $1.611 million price for the Darlington terrace with three bedrooms, one of which was just 2.2m wide, was $161,000 over the reserve and well above the $1.3 million opening bid.
The Ivy St terrace in Darlington had been used as rental property before selling.
Most of the interested parties vying for the home on Ivy St were first homebuyers and for some it was their first auction, according to selling agent Sharon Skrabanich of Harris Tripp.
Nerves seemed to be a factor and the auction was initially slow to get started.
Most of the early bidding was from a pregnant home seeker who had her partner listening into the auction on video call. Another couple entered the fray just as auctioneer Chris Scherri was about to drop the gavel at $1.565 million.
They countered every subsequent bid with an immediate $5000 increase until the pregnant couple declared they would not offer higher than what became the $1.611 million final price.
There were about 50 onlookers spread up and down Ivy St to watch the auction. Picture: Julian Andrews
The buyers were understood to be first homebuyers who had been outbid at other auctions.
“It’s a common situation,” Ms Skrabanich said. “Buyers lose out at multiple auctions so they start offering more at the next auction.”
Mr Scherri said entering auctions late was a popular tactic in the current boom market but the verdict was still out on whether it made a difference. “Buyers try all kinds of tactics but, at the end of the day, you have to bid higher than everybody else to win whether you put in the opening bid or come in last,” he said.