An elegant six-bedroom Victorian home built in 1880 at 24 Ethel Street in Burwood passed in at auction on Saturday afternoon on a vendor bid of $8.5 million.
The “Mona” has been immaculately renovated with floor to ceiling Italian luxury. A crowd of about 300 watched on as bidding opened at $7.5 million among six registered bidders with three actively bidding all the way to $8.35 million.
The vendor had approval to subdivide the land a decade ago and built a freestanding, bright and modern four-bedroom home next door at 24C Ethel Street.
The adjacent property went to auction immediately after its grand neighbour passed in on a vendor bid of $8.5 million. Most of the crowd shuffled across and saw five people enthusiastically bid out of the seven registered.
Bidding opened at $2 million. Several $50,000 bids were placed. Then several $10,000 bids took it above the $2.3 million reserve until $1000 bids batted back and forth until it sold for $2,420,000 to a family. This is the buyer’s first purchase in Sydney, they are currently renting.
These were two of 613 homes scheduled to go under the hammer in Sydney on the weekend. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 73 per cent from 373 reported results, while 62 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
Selling agent Michael Murphy from McGrath Strathfield said it was an attractive price point for a freestanding home in the Burwood area.
“It [is] a quick commute back down to Burwood Westfield and Burwood Chinatown,” he said.
The property last traded for $1.135 million in 2000, records show.
A two-bedroom unit located at 15/87 Roscoe Street, Bondi Beach sold above its $900,000 reserve for $908,000 to a first home buyer from Darlinghurst.
Four people registered and three actively bid on the apartment guided between $875,000 - $900,000. Bidding opened at $840,000 jumping in $100,000 bids and $50,000 bids. Fourteen bids were placed in total before a crowd of 20 people.
Selling agent Simon Exleton from McGrath Double Bay said the proximity to the ocean and the price point made the property attractive to both investors and first home buyers.
“Quality property is in demand. There’s still a lack of supply, but we can feel that changing into spring,” he said.
The unit last traded for $760,000 in 2018, records show.
PRD’s chief economist Dr Diaswati Mardiasmo said the slight improvement in the clearance rate of 73 per cent is of no surprise as the cash rate has been kept stable.
“The RBA pulled out their statement of monetary policy on Friday morning [...] and they’ve adjusted their policy cash rate expectations,” she said.
Mardiasmo said the biggest driver of the property market at the moment is the more stable outlook for the cash rate.
She also said higher migration and wage growth are factors contributing to the property market currently.
“This time last year, we were still going up and up in terms of our cash [rate]. So it was still very aggressive. There was a lot of uncertainty in the market back then,” she said.
Mardiasmo believes we are returning to a normal market, similar to pre COVID. “We’ll see buyers coming back into the market. We’ll see some prices starting to recover. But we’re going back to the normal strong market, as opposed to the massive growth that we saw back in 2021.”
A three bedroom family home on Avalon Beach located at 11 Net Road sold for $2,055,000.
Selling agent Tara Jaijee from Ray White Prestige declined to share the reserve but said it was a fantastic result.
“It’s a real hidden gem in Avalon Beach. It’s a very quiet street. It’s within easy reach of Careel Bay, [on] Pittwater. So boating and supping and letting your kids and dogs have a little run about [is] five minutes down the road,” she said.
Jaijee said Avalon continues to be popular with people from the eastern suburbs and the inner west.
The home last traded for $1.545 million in 2020, records show.