Sydney auction: Enviable brick house is actually $735,000 above reserve price

An old brick house called the “Blank Canvas” in Sutherland Shire was sold through a virtual auction for slightly more than $3.43 million-$735,000 above the seller’s ambitious reserve price.

The price of 710 square meters of waterfront block Sylvania waters Even the veteran agent was surprised. He revealed that he had expected the price to be well below US$3 million.

Sixteen bidders signed up for the online auction—both renovators and bidders who planned to demolish 1960s houses and replace them with modern ones.

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Honer Dodd real estate agent Adrian Dodd said that the result of the property was Lackland Avenue Shocked the local community.

“Almost every neighbor in the area called me. No one can believe it completely,” Mr. Dodd said.

This is the first time a house from the 1960s has been listed for sale in 40 years.

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Current lock-out restrictions prevent agents from holding auctions on site, and inspections are limited to private appointments that only allow one person to enter at a time.

The industry has already adjusted by arranging virtual auctions on streaming platforms such as Zoom or AuctionNow.

Mr. Dodd said that his experience with online auctions last year was that they often lack the vitality of live auctions and it is often more difficult for buyers to pay higher prices.

“It’s a little different now,” he said. “This is a special property that (registered) bidders are willing to buy. It’s like a perfect storm.”

According to reports, the buyer plans to live in the property while seeking development permits for a larger house.

“The price is basically the value of the land,” Mr. Dodd said.

Avenue Auctions director and auctioneer Andrew Cooley conducted the auction via live video streaming. He said buyers are accepting digital auctions in a way that was not available when Sydney was blocked last year.

“Last year buyers tried to get discounts and it was difficult,” he said.

“Buyers have learned a lesson from last year. Everyone thinks the market will be in trouble, and then it flourishes. Buyers think the market may become stronger.”

The property has a rare dead end location on the water.

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The Sylvania Waters home is one of 780 homes scheduled for auction last week. CoreLogic’s preliminary results indicate that 77% have been sold—mostly pre-auction transactions.

Most scheduled auctions that did not generate sales were due to the vendor withdrawing the property. There are only 29 attributes actually passed in.