27 Evans St, Bronte sold last night for circa $8.5m.
With spring set to bloom, fresh listings are trickling in and buyer confidence appears high as coronavirus cases remain low. Among positive signs, a circa $8.5m sale last night in Bronte.
The award-winning Fox Johnston Architects-designed four-bedroom, five bathroom ‘contemporary masterpiece’ at 27 Evans St — owned by property power couple Stephen Auld and Charlotte Peterswald — had multiple parties fighting over it.
For sale since July 3, it sold via PPD Real Estate principal Alexander Phillips to a Yowie Bay family for close to its asking price.
Phillips reports the COVID-19 gloom is starting to lift, with both buyers and sellers who have managed to hold onto their jobs in a good mood.
He says buyer demand has “picked up”. “There’s definitely more urgency and more people wanting to buy,” Phillips said.
“Money is cheap and everyone’s saying stock levels are low, but it’s been this way for four years.”
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Open plan living areas open to deep wraparound terraces.
The gardens are by Garden Life.
He says he has some good listings available now, with more exciting options coming on.
“If you’ve got good job security, the cost of living is lower this year — it’s probably gone back 30 per cent because people aren’t going away on expensive overseas holidays and they’re going out less, so they have a bit more money.”
But this is no ordinary house.
It offers 420 sqm of internal space and is designed to take full advantage of its northerly aspect and has deep terraces. The landscaping, including a rooftop garden, was done by Garden Life.
With Tasmanian Blackwood joinery and bespoke bronze finishes within its concrete structure, other highlights are the 18m lap pool with Bisazza mosaic tiles … even a sauna and gym.
There’s lift access from triple garaging to all levels. No wonder it won the 2019 Master Builders Award For Excellence.
PAUL FEGAN SELLS FOR $5.9M
146 Paddington St, Paddington — which appeared as a Wentworth Courier House of the Week — had an overwhelming response.
It was purchased by a woman in her 30s who had moved up from Melbourne.
The principal of Raine & Horne Potts Point/Elizabeth Bay, Jane Schumann, is also upbeat after the Paddington home of Paul Fegan sold for $5.9m at auction, well above its $5m price guide.
Fegan is senior adviser at funds management business Gresham Partners, but was once the St George Bank boss.
His four-bedroom, four-bathroom home with double garage at 146 Paddington St appeared as the Wentworth Courier House of the Week on August 12 and Schumann reports the response was overwhelming.
“We had 65 groups — and I mean groups, not people — through our first home and it just went on from that,” Schumann said.
3/14-16 Court Road, Double Bay was the home of the late Ken Weiss, brother of fashion guru Peter Weiss.
The terrace with a leafy outlook is just one of the highlights.
“We had 35 on the Wednesday and another 30 on the Saturday … we were absolutely inundated!”
With a dozen contracts issued, there six registrations ahead of Damien Cooley’s auction.
Bidding opened at $4.7m and ended at $5.9m with two people fighting over it near the end.
It was purchased by a woman who’d moved up from Melbourne at the start of the year.
Says Schumann: “I think the upper end is doing well, with perhaps a bit more nurturing needed at the lower end, but there’s a nice energy out there.”
Among her listings are an apartment at 3/14-16 Court Road, Double Bay, owned by Ken Weiss — brother of fashion guru Peter Weiss. Both siblings died within a month of each other.
Ken Weiss’s apartment has $3.3m price guide.
DERELICT HOME FLIES $400K OVER RESERVE
1 Dudley St, Bondi, is on an elevated 227 sqm block.
It had good bones but needed a lot of love.
‘Blank canvas’ properties are always popular and this one in Bondi was particularly hot at last Tuesday night’s auction.
Andre Frack of Richardson & Wrench Bondi Junction and Ian Wallace of Richardson & Wrench Bondi Beach had seven registered bidders with five active for the three-bedroom, one-bathroom pre-war semi on a 227 sqm block at 1 Dudley Street, Bondi.
“It went crazy,” Frack reports.
It sold for $2.4m, which was $400k over reserve. All up, there were 1000 bids.
The last $300,000 was just two of the bidders.
JOIN ‘AUSSIE’ JOHN SYMOND
2/1 Onslow Ave, Elizabeth Bay, is owned by retired publican Ken Thompson and his wife, Elizabeth.
It has harbour views.
Ray White Double Bay’s Elliott Placks also says there’s “a bit more of a flow” of properties coming onto the market, with an apartment in the ‘One Onslow” block in Elizabeth Bay among them.
This block of nine apartments is tightly held, with Aussie Home Loans founder John Symond owning three apartments there.
The three-bedroom, three-bathroom apartment at 2/1 Onslow Avenue is owned by retired publican Ken Thompson and his wife, Elizabeth.
The guide is $6.5m ahead of a September 24 auction, with Nick Thompson (Ken Thompson’s son) the lead agent, along with Placks.
Among the apartment’s attractions are the 3.1 metre ceilings, 365 sqm interiors and of course beautiful finishes and harbour views.
Placks says buyers and sellers have had time to adapt to living with COVID-19.
“This is the new norm and people are accepting where we’re up to, people are prepared to move and trade,” he said.
“We’re seeing a combination of downsizers and people optimistically trading up … they’re seeing opportunity.
“Interest rates are low so it’s never been more affordable to take that next step.”
A STRONG SPRING
122 Hopetoun Ave, Vaucluse, has finally sold after years on the market.
It sold within its most recent price range of $5.76m to $6m.
Biller Property principal Paul Biller’s advice is antipating a strong spring in the wake of some decent recent sales.
Among them: the 122 Hopetoun Ave, Vaucluse home of the award-winning architect, Professor Victor Berk, and his wife, Susie, which had been on the market for years with various other agents.
He’s now sold it for within its most recent guide of $5.75m to $6m.
Another recent sale was a five-bedroom house at 15 Giralang Avenue, Vaucluse, which sold for close to its guide of $5.5m.
“We’ve been really busy and everything has sold quite well,” Biller said.
“We’ve got a bit more coming on for spring, however the volume is certainly not what everyone predicted earlier in the year.
“The lack of stock is driving prices and we’re getting some great inquiries on what we’ve got.
“I reckon that over the next two to three months we’ll see some really strong results.
“But what happens next, when Job Keeper runs out, no-one nows, so if I was a vendor I’d be selling now rather than later.”
DAMIEN COOLEY ADVICE FOR BUYERS
Cooley has brought 180 acres in the Southern Highlands.
He paid $1.61m — down from $2.1m which was the price a year ago.
Auctioneer Damien Cooley has some great advice for bidders at auctions: “Wear a mask”.
And he’s saying that because of the Health Department’s advice, but also because it may help them get a bargain.
“Auctioneers thrive on body language — our role is to extract the best price out of the buyer for the seller,” he said.
“One way is reading the language of the buyer to ascertain potentially how much they are going to pay by the signals they give us.”
For example, he says he always looks for the buyer’s reaction to when he asks what they may be prepared to pay at the beginning — but with a face mask, he can’t really read them.
Cooley says the coronavirus dilemma has also made him and his wife, Peppi, think about “what’s important” — and one of those things had always been to buy a rural retreat.
With that in mind, they’ve snapped up a 180 acre property in the Southern Highlands for $1.61m (not the $1.8m the ad indicates) — down from $2.1m.
”We’d always had the dream to buy a place and when we went into the lockdown period, both of us were aking ourselves the question, “Far out, what are we doing this for.”
“It’s in the middle of a state forest but quite remote,” he said.
But that was one of the attractions.
His busy schedule will mean he only gets there one day a week. “But one day can feel like a week,” he said.
Ducks, pigs and some cattle are all part of the plan to market to high-end restaurants in Sydney.
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