Race to buy Newmarket Randwick off the plan highlight of weekend sales

Race to buy Newmarket Randwick off the plan highlight of weekend sales
Staff reporterDecember 7, 2020

Sydney was riding the spring racing fervour, with strong buyer demand evident for the latest off the plan apartment offering at Randwick on Saturday.

And Melbourne's embrace of the 13th season of The Block saw big crowds turn up at the inspections of the five Elsternwick house offerings.

The relocated and extended homes were open for the first time on Sunday with queues extending along Regent Street.

The upcoming October 28 auctions have come with indicative sale prices between $2.4 million and $2.64 million, although market commentators have suggested previously the homes ought fetch $3 million.

The first stage of the Newmarket Randwick project sold out - all 124 apartments mostly to owner occupiers for a $175 million total.

Known as Newmarket Residences (above), the two eight storey proposed buildings were designed by Bates Smart taking inspiration from the nearby heritage Newmarket House and the grand old stable buildings on the site.

Some of the buyers in the conversion of the former Inglis thoroughbred sales complex went onto The Everest race day.

During the four hours sales session, a three-bedroom apartment sold at the top $2.8 million price. Prices for one-bedroom apartments started from $780,000, two-bedroom apartments from $1,200,000 and three-bedroom apartments from $2,200,000. There were 54 x one bedroom apartments, raging between 51sqm- 70sqm; 62 x two bedroom apartments, 73sqm- 93sqm and 12 x three bedroom apartments, 114sqm- 137sqm.

The Cbus Property development will have 642 apartments and terraces on its 2020 completion after the five-hectare site was secured for a reported $250 million in 2015.

The site had accommodated up to 620 horses and included a 1000 person arena used regularly for major horse sales.

William Inglis & Son Ltd, the 150-year-old family business had secured the site for £50,000 in 1917, but sold after shifting to new headquarters near Warwick Farm Racecourse in south-west Sydney.

Meanwhile Sydney’s preliminary auction clearance rate was 69.5 per cent across 916 auctions, after last week saw the final 61.3 percent clearance rate fell to the lowest level since late 2015.

"This is likely to revise lower over the next few days as more results are collected," CoreLogic auction analyst Kevin Brogan said.

This time last year, Sydney auction volumes were similar, although the clearance rate was much stronger at 81.4 per cent.

The Eastern suburbs (81.5 per cent), North Sydney and Hornsby (81.0 per cent) and Northern Beaches (80.7 per cent) had the highest clearance rates.

Sydney's Bronte secured the top weekend sale across the nation with a pre-auction sale of a $6.43 million contemporary home.

Architect Michael Folk captured the essence of beach house luxe, selling agent Alexander Phillips at Phillips Pantzer Donnelley said.

But Domain's senior economist Dr Andrew Wilson decreed the boom-time results of recent years have now clearly ended.

"Although home prices are now falling, the underlying drivers of the Sydney housing market remain positive with strong migration, a robust local economy and an underlying chronic shortage of homes," Dr Andrew Wilson, the Domain senior economist added.

The national auction clearance rate held firm, buoyed by stronger results across the Melbourne and Canberra housing markets, according to CoreLogic.

There were 2,497 auctions held across the combined capital cities, up from 2,318 last week.

So far, 2,007 results have been reported to CoreLogic, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 70.6 per cent, increasing from last week when the final clearance rate slipped to 64.4 per cent, the lowest clearance rate since January 2016.

Over the corresponding week last year, auction volumes were similar, with 2,443 properties taken to auction, while the clearance rate was stronger at 76.2 per cent.

Melbourne's 74.8 per cent success rate was the nation's strongest, followed closely by Canberra on 74.5 per cent. 

Melbourne was host to 1,208 auctions and with 1,042 results sits above the prior weekend's final clearance rate of 70.3 per cent.

At the same time last year, Melbourne’s clearance rate was 77.7 per cent across 1,182 auctions.

Of the Melbourne sub-regions, 6 of the 9 regions recorded clearance rates above 75 per cent.

Melbourne's top sale was $6.37 million at Middle Park. The 307 Beaconsfield Pde offering was sold without heritage overlay through Greg Hocking Holdsworth agent Simon Gowling.

Both the Inner South and the North West Melbourne regions recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 78.8 per cent this weekend, followed by the Outer East region where 76.7 per cent of auctions cleared.

 

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