First weekend of spring: Sydney auctions smash expectations

Auction at 70, Flavelle Street in Concord today. Picture: Julian Andrews.
A sea of people flooded the streets where this inner west residence sold for 7.45m.
The stately home at 70 Flavelle Street, Concord guiding for 6.7m with four active bidders.
On the first weekend of the season, Sydney’s spring auction market has boomed back with an abundance of homes exceeding reserves.
“The atmosphere was electric, there were probably almost 400 people there,” McGrath Strathfield lead agent Paul Tartak said.
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Auctioneer Emanuel Domino brought the gavel down on the $7.45 million sale. Picture: Julian Andrews.
Mr Tartak said he was happy with the result, but most of all so were the vendors and also the purchasers with it looking like a strong spring market ahead with lots of buyers looking due to the recent interest rate cuts.
An inner southern property broke the Redfern record for a one-bedroom apartment, selling for 1.67m.
The residence at 1/99 Marriott Street had a reserve of 1.3m.
“It was one of the best auctions I have seen all year,” Ray White Touma Taylor’s Cadan Hickey said.
Mr Hickey said the previous one bedroom apartment record sold in the suburb about two years ago for a price of 1.56m.
1/99 Marriott Street, Redfern
A slow start at an inner west auction ended with success, with the property selling for $150,000 over the $2.25m reserve.
With four active bidders, the opening bid at 41 Moncur Street, Marrickville began at 2m, close to its guide of 2.1m.
Led by Auctioneer Clarence White of Menck White Auctioneers, the beginning was dominated by a back and forth between the two starting bidders with multiple $50,000 bids, dropping to $10,000 bids to the latter.
Two fresh contender’s joined the bidding around the 2.27m mark, however, the auction was finally called to the bidder who entered second.
41 Moncur Street, Marrickville sold for $2.4m
“There’s a strategy for buyers, most buyers don’t like to start the auction,” Lead agent Marco Errichiello, of Rich & Olivia said.
Mr Errichiello said it was a perfect result in a strong market evident by the number of people who turned up.
“It’s above reserve, the competition was there and there were five registered parties,” he said.
“The market is definitely strong, this is an example of it, it’s a home that needs work and it’s achieved 2.4m which is more than what the owner was expecting.
“It’s a great start to spring market.”
The buyers, who wished to remain anonymous, said what brought them to the auction was the location.
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Auctioneer Clarence White of Menck White Auctioneers led the bidding
“We really love the area,” they said.
“Inner West is just the place that we’ve been pretty determined to be.”
They said there was no real strategy and it was only the second auction that they had bidded at.
“We just went for it,” they said.
“I was telling my wife yesterday, there’s this thing called locus of control, there’s stuff that is put in your control and there’s stuff that’s outside of your control.
“And you can only do what is inside your control.”
After selling their home in Alexandria after five years around January, they were very happy with the new home and looking forward to having their weekends back.
“Surreal, it doesn’t feel real at all,” they said.
Inside the Marrickville home
“We’ve been in the market for eight months and pretty fatigued to be honest.
“(Inspections) every Saturday for the last eight months.
“That’s probably the main part, just having our life back.”
The sellers, who purchased the home ten years ago for $890,000 said it was an amazing result.
“We originally purchased to move in here, but our support base is further out West so we moved closer,” they said.
They were also pleased with the growth, “a big jump,” they said.
“Really pleased with the result, we’ve been tracking Marrickville, obviously since it’s been on the market.
“It’s a great location and great for families.”
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