An 85.5% success rate for Sydney's first 2015 Super Saturday
Jonathan ChancellorFebruary 27, 2015
With an 85.5% initial clearance rate, the red hot Sydney summer home auction market continued today despite it being a record volume for a February Saturday.
Houses achieved a median price of $1.24 million while apartments sat at a $764,000 median.
Some 788 homes were scheduled to be offered under the hammer on 28 February, higher than last weekend’s 636 and the 665 conducted over the same weekend last year.
Andrew Wilson, the Domain Group senior economist said Sydney passed with "flying colours".
The preliminary results covered 605 auctions.
The top residential sale was $4.62 million for a contemporary home at Castle Hill through Belle Glebe. There was also the $4.64 million sale of an Ashfield block of nine two bedroom apartments through Elders Inner West agent Sebastian Bonaccorso.
The top auction offer, which was not accepted, was $6.25 million in Woollahra, but that was less than the $6.5 million paid for the contemporary Holdsworth Street terrace in 2011, and highlighting all the Sydney print headlines of premium property recovery being premature.
It is among the terraces (above) previously occupied by the Holdsworth Gallery. It was the former Rothschild banking director Geoffrey Hodgkinson, a former assistant Reserve Bank governor, and his wife Tina who were the fortunate 2011 vendors securing the $6.5 million.
The city and east hosted the most number of auctions with 125 followed by the inner west with 119.
The most popular Sydney suburbs for auctions this weekend were Mosman and Maroubra each with 12 followed by Drummoyne 11, Randwick 10 and Epping, Surry Hills and Glebe each with eight auctions.
There was a $1.72 million Chadwick Real Estate sale (below) at Epping, a 1940s house on 840 square metes which last sold in late 1994 at $350,000, reflecting 8% annual price growth.
Last Saturday Sydney's clearance rate was adjusted to 83.1%, down from the preliminary near-record 84.6% result.
TOP SALES ACROSS THE CAPITALS
Sydney | 54 Cammeray Road, Castle Cove, 5br House, Belle Glebe | $4.62m |
Melbourne | 136 Page St, Middle Park VIC 3206, 4 br House, Cayzer Real Estate | $5,500,000 |
Adelaide | 8 Netley Av, Lockleys SA 5032, 3 br House, Ouwens Casserly | $910,000 |
Brisbane | 89 Towers St, Ascot QLD 4007, 4 br House, RW - New Farm | $1,496,000 |
Source: Australian Property Monitors
One of the weekend buyers was the Channel 10 Shark Tank series presenter Sarah Harris and husband Tom Ward, an IT professional, who paid $2,175,000 for a contemporary Cremorne semi, paying $75,000 above the reserve price.
APM incorrectly noted the weekend's top sale, which prompted an update to the article.
Jonathan Chancellor
Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.