Jaw-dropping townhouse auction sees final sale price fly past $1 million

A two-bedroom, two-bathroom townhouse saw such competitive bidding that the price flew close to $300,000 past the same complex’s last sale.

A crowd of 70 people and 14 registered bidders gathered in the courtyard for 1/24 Arthur Tce, Red Hill, where an auction for the property took place on Sunday morning.

Once lived in by a local couple, the home became an investment property when the vendors had to move out with their three children.

1/24 Arthur Tce, Red Hill: a two-bedroom townhouse that attracted a crowd of 70 at auction.

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Ray White Paddington agent Judi O’Dea said the courtyard was packed to the brim on the day, after she received four offers for the place well over the last townhouse’s sale price.

“Because there had been three sales in the building, and the last sale had gone around $940,000, people were giving us offers prior to at around $1m,” she said.

“I knew it was going to be strong, and we had people who were sincerely wanting to buy and live in it.”

Bidding began at $800,000 – and by just the second bid, the offer went up by a whopping $300,000 to $1.1 million.

This was well over the reserve price of $1.075m, and priced out all but two of the registered bidders for the home.

The property was owned by rentvestors who had to move out due to the size of their family, with the money from the sale going to a larger house.

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Within two bids, the price had blown past almost every registered bidder’s price range.

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From there, a furious back and forth began: one bidder an interstate caller from Sydney, the other a local buyer from Chelmer.

Soon, around 20 bids had passed, and the home sold for a total of $1.255m.

“To raise the bar so much to 1.255 is really a very strong jump,” Ms O’Dea said.

“People are really lining up around the block as first homeowners to purchase [townhouses].”

Ms O’Dea said the money from the sale would go towards affording the vendors, currently renting, their ideal home.

“It’s given them a huge opportunity to increase their budget range for the family home they’re trying to buy,” she said.

The home sold for $1.255m to an owner-occupier from Chelmer.

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Meanwhile, the Chelmer buyer is a woman looking to live in the townhouse as an owner-occupier.

“She’s hoping she might be able to put a pool into the courtyard – she’s got a lot of big dreams about this townhouse,” Ms O’Dea said.

“For inner-city living in Paddington, they’re really lovely things – people can always come in and upgrade these properties. A lot of these townhouse complexes are now [full of] owner-occupiers.”