Young couple pays $1.65 million for charming Stanmore terrace

A young couple upsizing from an apartment paid $1.65 million for a charming Stanmore terrace house at auction on Saturday, beating a first home buyer couple for the keys.

The two-bedroom home at 7 Aubrey Street came with period touches such as decorative arches and ceiling roses, and it has a backyard and outdoor dining area.

The property was one of 521 scheduled to go to auction in Sydney this week. By evening, Domain had recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 53 per cent from 307 reported results throughout the week and 87 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

The result is marginally higher than last week’s early read of 51 per cent, but it is based on low volumes due to the long weekend. It also comes after the Reserve Bank’s Tuesday decision to lift interest rates to a 15-year high of 4.6 per cent.

The Stanmore home was first listed with a price guide of $1.5 million, then after a pre-auction offer was received, the guide was raised to $1,525,000.

Four parties registered for the auction and two were active. Every buyer was a young couple, mostly buying their first home, BresicWhitney Inner West selling agent Blake Lowry said.

Bidding began at $1.45 million and rose in small increments. Bidding stopped at $1,635,000, at which point the reserve price was adjusted down to put the home on the market. The price then rose to $1.65 million, the vendor’s original hopes.

There is no legal requirement for a vendor’s reserve to be in line with their property’s price guide.

The winners had sold their apartment that week, enabling them to upsize and move from the North Sydney area to the inner west, Lowry said.

The vendor had owned the home for about three decades and was moving to be closer to her sister, Lowry said.

“This sort of property is very rare for Stanmore, two bedrooms at that price point, so that is reasonably popular. Stanmore is a low turnover area,” he said.

He thought the low supply of homes for sale was helping insulate the neighbourhood from trends elsewhere in the market. “The market is affected in Stanmore, but probably a little bit less than maybe some others,” he said.

“Interest rates affect this price point … I think it is a factor for buyers. But this market, with limited stock on the market, buyers’ preference is just finding the right property first. They don’t have a lot of options.”

On the north shore, a contemporary family home fetched $2.9 million in a single-bidder auction.

The four-bedroom house at 14 Reynolds Street Pymble has an open-plan kitchen, living and dining area, an outdoor dining area and a backyard. It had a price guide of $3 million.

A family with four children including a newborn moving from an apartment made an opening bid of $2.7 million. They increased their offer a few times and reached $2.9 million, at which point the home sold, The Marshall Group RE selling agent Carl Ferris said.

Another two parties had been keen but did not turn up. The reserve was $3 million.

“Trust the process,” Ferris said of calling an auction with only one registered bidder. The vendors are planning to build another property.

He described the market overall as “patchy”. Potential buyers were looking at open homes, but not everyone was ready to purchase.

“We have noticed in the last week or two there has been a lot more activity. Our numbers through the door with new listings has ramped up,” he said.

He had noticed more buyers looking at newly listed open homes over the past week or two, including a busy Saturday, although there was scant attendance on Wednesday, after Tuesday’s RBA meeting.

“People are obviously talking about how their budgets have changed. They are looking within their means,” he said. “It has not been doom and gloom from buyers.”

In Quakers Hill, a family home sold under the hammer for $1,260,007.

The four-bedroom house at 112 Kennington Avenue was listed with a price guide of $1.2 million.

Two bidders registered but only one bid. He made an opening offer of $1.24 million, countered by a vendor bid of $1.26 million.

DKB Real Estate selling agent Deepak Bangarh asked the buyer for a bid of $1,265,000, or $1,263,000, but the buyer declined to push any higher.

“I asked him, ‘what is your lucky number?’. He said, ‘seven’. I said, ‘Do seven dollars more’,” Bangarh said.

The reserve had been $1.29 million.

Bangarhsaid lots of buyers had been talking about interest rates. “These days, the buyers put an offer and then they reduce their offers,” he said.

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.