Apartment fit for a queen sells for $100k above reserve at auction

The Art Deco apartment at 1/166 Queen St, Woollahra sold $101,000 above its reserve price.

CASHED-UP buyers are cleaning up in a market where many are struggling to get finance, with well-priced properties in the best locations continuing to be popular.

A two-bedroom Art Deco apartment at 1/166 Queen St, Woollahra with a price guide of $850,000 attracted five registered bidders and it sold for $1,101,000 through Ben Gregory-Aylett of Little Real Estate.

VENDORS DROP RESERVES TO SELL

BUYERS STRUGGLE TO GET FINANCE

HOUSE SELLS $255K LESS THAN 2016

The reserve had been $1 million though the owners would have been happy with $950,000.

The apartment at 1/166 Queen St, Woollahra, is well-located in the heart of the Woollahra village.

Bidding had started at the price guide and risen in mostly $5000 and $1000 increments with four of the five who’d registered participating.

They all looked to be in the 40 to 65 age group and no doubt had a bit of equity behind them.

The buyers were from Paddington and although it’s set to be an investment initially — it currently attracts $530 a week rent — the apartment in ‘Carnarvon’, one of six, would be a great place to live right in the heart of the Woollahra village.

CoreLogic indicates the owners had paid $172,000 in 1991.

The highest auction sale was at 11 Darook Park Rd, Cronulla, which sold for $5.8 million through McGrath Estate Agents

The auction was one of 431 around Sydney scheduled for Saturday, with 311 of the results reported to CoreLogic the clearance rate was 57.55 per cent (2 per cent higher than the previous Saturday).

But most of the sales occurred prior to auction day — 93 compared with 85 under the hammer.

SEE RESULTS IN YOUR SUBURB FOR THE PAST WEEK

But there can still be strong results where buyers see exceptional value in this market.

A weatherboard on a huge block at Allambie Heights on the northern beaches sold for $1,672,500 — $122,500 above the ­reserve.

Winning bidder gets a hug after the auction of 20 Kentwell Rd at Allambie Heights. Picture: Troy Snook

Michelle Galletti of Cunninghams had 12 bidders register, with seven of them active, for the two-bedroom home on a 968sqm block at 20 Kentwell Rd.

Over the week, the eastern suburbs was one of the top-performing regions with a clearance rate of 62.5 per cent from the 40 results collected. This was bettered only by the north shore, which CoreLogic calls North Sydney and Hornsby, at 69.23 per cent from 65 collected results.

Northern Beaches was 61.54 per cent from 39; Ryde was 57.4 per cent from 21; City and Inner South was 56.6 per cent from 53; Inner West was 50 per cent from 22; Parramatta was 48.72 per cent from 39 and Sutherland was 47.83 per cent from 23.

But the highest auction sale from Saturday was in Cronulla — part of the Sutherland Shire — where a waterfront property at 11 Darook Park Rd sold for $5.8 million through McGrath agent Murray Cole.

It had last traded for $3.8 million in 2013.