Auction round-up: Artfully inspired Surry Hills home sells for $3.35 million

Sydney’s Surry Hills is renowned as a blue-chip suburb. It’s no surprise that bidding for an artfully renovated two bedroom, one bathroom corner terrace on 171 square metres of land and off-street parking nestled in the heart of this prized village location started off strong from the start.

With 11 registered bidders for 81 Arthur Street, a strong opening bid of $2.7 million knocked out six competitors instantly, leaving five active bidders who recognised the enormous future opportunities to battle it out.

Bresic Whitney CEO Thomas McGlynn said that he is seeing two types of properties performing well at auctions currently - turn-key propositions where “buyers don’t have to worry about expensive renovation costs, or properties with enormous opportunity for the future.”

As the auction continued, bidding rose in various increments, with two parties rallying in $10,000 increments.

The new local owners secured the property for $3.35m, $1 million above the indicative price level. “The buyer recognised the opportunity and recognised good Surry Hills real estate” said Mr McGlynn.

There were 1,144 properties up for auction this week in Sydney, marking the busiest week of the year so far for the region, an increase of 41.2 percent on the previous week which saw 810 homes going to auction. This uptick in activity marks the seasonal surge ahead of the peak in the week before Easter.

With 264 properties selling at auction, the clearance rate was 65.3 percent, another slip against last week’s 69.1 percent. This continues the clearance rate slide in Sydney, where this time last year the clearance rate of 70.4 percent was reported.

Twenty-four-year-old Tudor style Glen Iris townhouse sells for $1.407m

Perfectly positioned in a coveted Glen Iris pocket between Malvern Road and the Monash Freeway, 3/5 King Street sold for over $100,000 above the estimated price.

The rear of three Tudor style townhouses built in 2000, the three bedroom, two bathroom home with internal access garaging for two cars was last sold in 2016 for $1.080 million to investors, the sale represents a 30.27 percent gain in value over nine years.

Bidding on this perfect family home in a sought after location close to shops, good schools, transit corridors and public transport was strong. Selling agent Tim Heavyside of Heavyside real estate said that interest in the property was mixed, ranging from young professionals, families and investors.

The winning bid of $1.407 million was made by a young couple who were first home buyers. “They are thrilled to get into the area” said Mr Heavyside.

1,172 auctions took place in Melbourne over the weekend. This high level of auction activity marks the third consecutive weekend that Melbourne has seen over 1,000 properties going under the hammer.

This represents a 314 percent increase on the same time last year, which saw just 283 homes being auctioned.

Melbournes auction clearance rate was 67.2 percent this weekend, a 2.7 percent increase from last weekend’s clearance rate of 64.5 percent, which was the highest clearance rate for the Victorian capital in four weeks.

According to Mr Heavyside, it has been business as usual despite the fickle local market. “With hints of further interest rate drops, I expect things will continue in the current trajectory,” said Mr Heavyside.