Sydney auctions: north shore wreck sells for $900,000 over ambitious reserve
Auctioneer Andrew Robinson at the sale of a rundown Crows Nest home. Picture: David Swift
A crumbling, uninhabitable house on the north shore requiring about $1 million in work to bring it up to the standard of neighbouring homes has sold under the hammer for $3 million.
The price for the two-bedroom home on Emmett St in Crows Nest was $900,000 over an already ambitious reserve price of $2.1 million.
A crowd of about 150 people huddled under umbrellas in the heavy rain to watch the bidding unfold, including 25 registered bidders.
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Selling agent Chris Davies of Belle Property-Neutral Bay said the home had attracted considerable interest in the lead up to the sale.
“It caught the imagination of people who wanted a project,” Mr Davies said.
18 Emmett St, Crows Nest defied price expectations.
“There are not many terraces like this in the area and it’s the only two-storey home on the street … many wanted to potentially extend the home out the back.”
His agency issued more than 70 contracts of sale for the property and showed more than 250 buyer groups through the home.
It is understood the home fell into its current condition because the long-time owner had neglected to do maintenance for many years. She paid $131,000 for the home in 1986, records showed.
The 1900-era home is set on a 226 sqm block, much of it overgrown with vegetation.
Auctioneer Andrew Robinson received an opening bid of $2 million and said the bidding was “spirited”.
Onlookers huddled in the rain to watch the auction unfold.
The property needed a lot of work.
Bidding went up in initial increments of about $50,000 and slowed to about $25,000. The north shore-based buyer entered the fray in the middle of the auction. There were a total of 30 bids placed, including multiple offers above $2.5 million.
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The buyer was reported to be planning an extensive renovation and will move into the property.
“It was a huge price for what the home is,” Mr Robinson said, adding it was easily the strongest auction he has called so far this year.
Mr Davies said that his sales team would have been “over the moon” if the price had reached $2.5 million. “To get $3 million is amazing,” he said. “A lot of the neighbours have been here a long time and if they hadn’t kept an eye on the market it would have come as a shock.”
Bidding was described as “spirited”.
The Crows Nest house was one of more than 600 scheduled to go under the hammer this weekend – an increase on the volume of sales last week.
It comes as preliminary CoreLogic data showed 85 per cent of auctions delivered a result last week – the first major week of auctions for the year.
There has been particularly strong interest in homes with renovation potential.
Last week a Marrickville house requiring significant repairs sold under the hammer for $330,000 over the reserve and at a new suburb record after attracting the interest of 33 bidders.
The selling agent Adrian Tsavalas said the number of registered alone was staggering. A strong auction last year would have been considered any sale that attracted more than five registered bidders.