Young couple pays $2.14m for Alexandria terrace with rooftop garden

An upsizing couple paid $2.14 million for a renovated Alexandria terrace with a rooftop garden at auction on Saturday, beating two others and still securing a discount to the reserve.

The three-bedroom home at 182 Henderson Road had a kitchen and dining area that led out to a courtyard and then a smart rooftop terrace for entertaining, set above the garage.

The property was one of 985 scheduled to go to auction in Sydney last week. By Saturday evening, Domain recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 48 per cent from 564 reported results throughout the week, while 208 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

The clearance rate has edged up from the low it reached last week, when the preliminary result was 45 per cent, its lowest all year. But it remains far below the 60 per cent threshold that indicates a market balanced between buyers and sellers, and suggests prices are still falling.

The Alexandria home was offered with a price guide of $2 million and drew three registered bidders at auction, all of whom participated.

Bidding began at $2 million and two parties pushed the price to $2.1 million, when a third buyer jumped in.

The home sold for $2.14 million. The reserve price had been $2.25 million.

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

“The owners did the renovation – did a beautiful job adding this Mediterranean courtyard,” Ray White Erskineville/Alexandria/Glebe/Surry Hills selling agent Shaun Stoker said.

“That was what really stood out to buyers, was this beautiful rooftop garden above the garage.”

He added that the vendors had since moved to Brisbane for work and decided to sell their Sydney home.

The buyers are a young couple from Redfern upsizing from a unit who like the lock-up garage, a rare feature in the neighbourhood, Stoker said, adding they also like the area and its proximity to transport options.

The other two buyers were first-home hopefuls.

Speaking broadly about the market, he said there are buyers looking, but showing interest only if they see value.

“We are getting a good number of groups coming through opens, it just seems a lot of buyers are on the sidelines just waiting,” he said.

“The numbers out there is just as good as in a good market – just they are sitting waiting.”

In Surry Hills, a syndicate of investors learning about the renovation process sold a stylish two-bedroom apartment in a full brick building for $1,338,000.

The renovated home at 2/9-19 Nickson Street featured natural stone and marble details, banquette seating in the dining room and access to a communal rooftop area.

Four parties registered for the home, listed with a price guide of $1.25 million, and all four participated.

Bidding began at $1.15 million and was a little slow at the start as buyers hesitated. It sold for a little under the reserve of $1,345,000.

The winner was a woman from Sydney’s north who intends for her daughter to live there, said Ray White Touma Taylor selling agent Con Fotaras.

The home last sold for $1,065,000 in December last year. Bernadette Janson, of The School of Renovating, managed a unit trust of 19 female investors with a minimum $50,000 buy-in, who made updates including to the kitchen and bathroom as well as fresh paint. The project splits profits after paying for debt and costs.

Fotaras praised Janson’s work. “She nailed the renovation. It was a really good renovation, the response was really good,” he said.”

He added that there were few homes for sale in the area as the market has come back a little.

“You can wait for a better deal but you might not get a better property.”

On the northern beaches, a renovated duplex in Curl Curl sold for $1.82 million at auction, surpassing its guide price and reserve.

The two-bedroom home at 1/68 Adams Street was close to Curl Curl Beach and came with a stone-topped kitchen in a stylish shade of avocado.

Proceedings began at $1.65 million and two of the three registered bidders, all young locals, pushed the price higher in rapid-fire bids of mostly $10,000. The price rose above the guide of $1.7 million and the reserve of $1.8 million.

The winner is a young man from the local area. The vendors are also locals, selling their investment property, Cunninghams Real Estate selling agent Anita Wildash said.

She said the home stood out because it was near the beach and fully renovated, but this was not the only home that has sold for more than its guide price lately.

“It is all about pricing the property right and in this market we are working hard to do that,” she said.