Chris and Mary Prior sold their Leichhardt home at auction. Picture: Sam Ruttyn
An inner west couple “nervous” about selling their house in the middle of a recession were left with reason to celebrate after their property sold at auction for $100,000 more than they hoped.
Leichhardt residents Mary and Chris Prior had set a reserve of $1.2m for their two-bedroom house on Roseby St but sold under the hammer on Saturday for $1.3m.
Fourteen buyers registered to bid with selling agency Adrian William and nine raised their bidder cards during the auction.
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“It was an excellent result. We were really surprised,” Mr Prior said. “We were nervous given the economic climate but more people came than we thought and it went beyond what we hoped. We’re super happy.”
The couple moved into the home seven years ago and did a renovation, including a kitchen upgrade and the addition of a back deck.
Auctioneer Clarence White dropped the hammer at $1.3m. Picture: Sam Ruttyn
“When we bought it, the whole backyard was just concrete and mostly old carport,” Mr Prior said, adding they would be renting while they contemplated their next move.
Selling agent Adrian Tsavalas said the auction was moved forward a week due to the strong interest.
“A few months ago it was the opposite,” he said. “Agents were moving auctions back because there weren’t enough bidders … this is a healthy sign of what’s to come for spring.”
Most of the bidder interest was from first homebuyers – many of who recognised the opportunity to get value in the current market, Mr Tsavalas said.
“Before, first homebuyers were saying they were happy to wait until prices fell. There’s more stability in the market, more certainty, so the buyers are more willing to engage now,” he said.
There was a crowd of about 50 people at the auction spread across both sides of the street.
Auctioneer Clarence White had to wait a minute before receiving the opening bid of $1.05m. The next offers went up in a mix of mostly $25,000 and $10,000 increments, with $1000 increases at the end.
The final price was a surprise, Mr White said. “It was apparent there was universal appeal for the home, but other good properties have not received as much interest.
“The market is very patchy. Homes you’d expect to sell well don’t and others end up getting a very high result. There’s no strong pattern to what properties are selling well and what aren’t.”
Mr White said this was probably the result of varying degrees of confidence from buyers.
“There’s plenty of buyers who are active, but not everyone sees value the same and no one is sure where prices will be in six months’ time.”
The Leichhardt sale was one of about 780 Sydney auctions scheduled for the week – a 32 per cent increase on the volume of auctions recorded at this time last year, CoreLogic data showed. Last week, 66.1 per cent of auctions cleared, up from 62 per cent the week prior.
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