An upstairs neighbour has bought a three-bedroom art deco apartment in Waverley for $1.68 million, securing ownership of half the four-unit building and one of only two lock-up garages.
The ground-floor property in Kent Street attracted six registered bidders at Saturday’s auction, including five first-home buyers. All but one took part in the bidding before the apartment was sold under the hammer.
Bidding opened at $1.4 million, below the $1.585 million guide, and moved upwards in a mixture of $25,000, $5,000 and $1,000 increments.
The auction stalled after the bidding reached $1.6 million, but the property eventually sold for $80,000 above its $1.6 million reserve.
Charles Stevens, of McGrath, said the upstairs neighbour was the only investor involved in the auction. The two upper-level apartments do not have garages, while both ground-floor properties do.
“The majority of people coming through were in the first home buyer category … we had 12 people who came back for more than one inspection,” Mr Stevens said.
He added: “You can see the ocean from the sunroom.”
The vendors were an investor sibling pair. Records show the apartment last changed hands for $520,000 in 2002.
The Waverley sale came as Sydney’s auction market recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 48 per cent from 481 reported results during the week. A total of 177 auctions were withdrawn, with withdrawn properties counted as unsold in the clearance-rate calculation.
The early result was five percentage points lower than the previous week’s preliminary figure and only just above the year’s low of 47 per cent, recorded in June after buyers pulled back following changes to the tax treatment of investment properties in the May budget.
Mathew Tiller, head of research at LJ Hooker, described the 48 per cent clearance rate as “not a good start” to the spring selling season, saying listing activity was weaker than usual and properties were taking longer to sell.
“Those who aren’t under pressure to list have begun to hold off a little bit to see how the market pans out,” he said.
