A couple downsizing from Clontarf paid $5.5 million for an original condition Manly apartment at auction on Saturday.
The three-bedroom, sixth-floor apartment at 12/104 Darley Road was sold as part of a deceased estate and had been owned by the same family since the 1960s.
It was one of 696 auctions scheduled in Sydney on Saturday. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 69.4 per cent from 415 reported results, while 79 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
The Manly unit had been listed with a price guide of $5 million and the reserve was set at the same level.
Four buyers registered and two made offers at auction, kicking off with a bid of $4.7 million, said The Agency property partner Jake Rowe, who listed it with Nathan Tse.
Bidding then rose in increments of $100,000, then the purchaser dropped to $25,000 offers.
But the underbidder responded by rounding up the price with aggressive $75,000 raises.
Proceedings slowed at $5.4 million, stalled at $5,475,000 and the home sold at $5.5 million, he said.
He estimated a renovation would cost half a million dollars.
“They are very large apartments, almost 200 square metres internally, only two per floor,” he said.
“[It had] big dramatic views looking up and down the northern beaches coastline.”
He said the owners liked that the home in the Ting Hao building was a blank canvas with three parking spaces, plus the size and views. The residence also has a wraparound terrace with north-east sunshine.
Properties that are priced well are finding a good reception from buyers, he said.
Elsewhere, the biggest sale of the day was a seven-bedroom Strathfield house that fetched $8,901,000, against a price guide of $7.9 million.
Six bidders registered and four made offers for 38 Myrna Road, McGrath Strathfield selling agent Tarun Sethi said, and a local family won.
“It was highly sought after and hotly contested,” he said. The reserve price was $8.9 million.
“The market is quite buoyant,” he added. “I think it is certainly starting to heat up as we go towards spring.”
In Mosman, a downsizer beat four other registered buyers for a two-bedroom apartment, paying $1.81 million.
Four of the parties made offers for 8/15 Moruben Road but one of them only got one bid in, LJ Hooker Seaforth selling agent Tim Wirth said.
The price guide was $1.55 million and Wirth said the reserve was in line with the guide.
“Most of the apartments we have been selling recently at all price ranges, there has been strong competition. There is still more people looking to buy than properties coming up for sale,” he said.
“Properties that require more work, with rising building costs, aren’t getting the same level of attention.”
PRD chief economist Diaswati Mardiasmo said Sydney’s clearance rate had picked up from a few weeks ago and was tracking better.
She thought some buyers might be trying to purchase ahead of any Reserve Bank decision to increase interest rates further.
“It’s an increasing trend,” she said. “There is some talk of possibly the Reserve Bank increasing the clearance rate depending on the June inflation rate.
“When that happens normally the auction sector, it does get a bit of a jolt. It does become even busier because people want to be able to secure the current borrowing capacity and with the way the auction works, you have to do it right now.
“You have to be more financially ready.”