Home sells for $2 million above reserve, as auction volumes soar ahead of long weekend

The number of capital city auctions soared by 20 per cent this week, making it the second busiest auction week this year.

A total of 2962 auctions were held, up from 2460 last week and 2380 this time last year.

The high volume of auctions can be attributed to the long weekend in most States and Territories — except for Queensland and Western Australia — next week, when the number of homes going under the hammer is expected to drop dramatically.

“The number of auctions held is set to reduce over the coming weeks, more than halving next week to around 1330 due to the King’s Birthday long weekend in many States, before rising back to around 2000 the week after,” Cotality research director, Tim Lawless said.

Sydney hosted 1062 auctions, the third busiest week in the year-to-date.

Among those auctions was the sale of an untouched cottage in the harbourside suburb of Hunters Hill, which had been owned by the same family for more than 60 years.

With a price guide of $4.5 million and a reserve of $4.8m, no one expected that two passionate bidders would push the final selling price of 19 Gale Street, Hunters Hill to $6.89m.

Listing agent Nicole Robertson from BresicWhitney described the result as “incredible.”

“We had no expectation whatsoever of it getting to that kind of price,” she said, of the charming, but unrenovated three-bedroom cottage on a generous block.

“We had four or five buyers looking at it pretty closely throughout the whole campaign. We were expecting a sale today, but we weren’t expecting such a hot auction.”

Ms Robertson said bidding opened at $4.5m.

“We had three active bidders, but really there was just two competing pretty hard for the majority of the auction,” she said.

“The buyer was a beautiful family from the inner west. They’ve got four children and really love the location.”

The underbidder was an investor and developer.

“The owner’s daughter was there. She was absolutely thrilled that such a nice young family bought it. It was a real full circle moment for her,” she said.

“She was very emotional, and the buyer’s kids were really excited, so there was a lot of hugging.”

The family plan to undertake a major refurbishment of the home.

Sydney’s preliminary clearance rate was 69.9 per cent, down from 72.2 per cent the week prior, which dropped to 67.3 per cent on final numbers, making it the highest final clearance rate for Sydney since August last year, according to Cotality.

Buyer activity builds in Melbourne’s west

In Newport, in Melbourne’s west, a modern three-bedroom, two-bathroom home has sold under the hammer for $1.055m.

Two couples with young families battled it out for the keys to 14 Port Street, which last sold in 2017 for $805,000.

“Both parties had previously sold and were looking for their next home,” listing agent Nathan Smith from Raine & Horne Williamstown said.

“Both of them had both missed out on other properties recently, so it was a pretty competitive auction.

“The auction opened with a vendor bid of $970,000 and took off from there with bidding going up in $10,000 increments.”

Mr Smith explained the vendors were investors who felt the time was right to sell.

“We are seeing lots of people selling investment properties at the moment, especially with the changes to land tax and a few other factors coming into play,” he said, adding he has also seen a noticeable increase in open for inspection attendances in recent weeks.

“We are seeing a lot more people inspecting properties compared to last year and I think interest rates have played a big part in that, as well as people realising that we’ve probably passed the bottom point of the market,” he said.

Melbourne recorded the most auctions of all the capital cities, with 1547 homes going under the hammer.

‘This was the highest volume of auctions so far this year, above the week prior to Easter (1382) and the highest since the last week of October 2024, which was the week prior to the Melbourne Cup long weekend,” Mr Lawless said.

Melbourne’s preliminary clearance rate was 72.4 per cent, down from a preliminary clearance rate of 73.7 per cent the week prior, which revised down to 66 per cent, once finalised.

“This was the fifth consecutive week where Melbourne’s preliminary clearance rate has held above the 70 per cent mark,” Mr Lawless said.

Bidders fall for retro family home

Meanwhile, in Ballarat, 10 registered bidders showed interest in a three-bedroom family home at 45 Pauls Crescent, Wendouree.

Positioned in one of Wendouree’s most desirable and tightly held pockets, the character-filled brick home with a sprawling backyard and lots of retro features, won the hearts of many of the parties who viewed the property in the lead up to Saturday’s auction.

The strong interest saw the property, which was auctioned by Mark Williams from Ray White Ballarat, sell well above its guided price of $420,000 to $460,000, selling for $529,000.

Ray White Victoria chief auctioneer Jeremy Tyrrell said the number of auctions across the State felt unseasonally high.

“Winter is coming, but it feels more like spring with over 1400 auctions scheduled this week across the entire State, making it a ‘Super Saturday’ of auction action on the eve of winter,” Mr Tyrrell said.

“For the Ray White group, it’s been a record-breaking week for auction volume, with 306 scheduled — the highest number so far this year.

“This surge is most likely due to listings held back during the Federal election now hitting the market. News of the interest rate cut has also bolstered conditions, strengthening buyer confidence.

“While the weather bureau has predicted a warmer than average winter, the real estate market looks set to follow suit as things continue to heat up.”