Updated October 24, 2026 — 4:38pm,first published 1:04pm
Save
You have reached your maximum number of saved items.
Remove items from your saved list to add more.
Gift this free article
Share full article with anyone — no subscription needed to read it. It won’t deduct your gift credits. Learn more
Share article as gift
AAA
A first home buyer paid $1,305,000 for a two-bedroom apartment in Alexandria, $55,000 over the reserve, on Saturday.
Cooley auctioneer Jake Moore took an opening bid of $1.15 million for 2/145 Belmont Street in front of a crowd of 30 people gathered in the living room of the apartment in a converted warehouse.
The property was one of 885 scheduled to go to auction in Sydney this week. By evening, Domain recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 45 per cent from 490 reported results throughout the week, while 184 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
Eleven parties registered for the chance to win the keys, with five active. Bidding went up in increments of $10,000 and $5000, jumping around at times to $6000 and $11,000. A final $5000 bid sealed the deal and the hammer fell.
The property had a guide of $1.13 million and a reserve of $1.25 million.
There is no legal requirement for a vendor’s reserve to be in line with their property’s price guide.
Related Article
The vendors, who once lived in the property, moved interstate five years ago and have been renting it out since.
The new owner, who has been renting locally, said he was attracted by the boutique nature of the building, which has just 12 apartments and the “great” area, which has cafes and parks nearby. He said cooling market conditions had stopped him from rushing into a purchase.
“It has given me confidence to wait,” he said. “You are not worried that tomorrow the property [you’re looking at] will be worth more.”
Sales agent for The Agency, Brad Gillespie, said most buyers were thinking along the same lines.
“They are not in any rush to make a decision,” he said. “There is a lot of window shopping, and they are happy to do the rounds, but unless it ticks all the boxes, they are just waiting.”
He described the strong turnout for the auction, which was mostly made up of first home buyers, as “refreshing”.
“We haven’t had a competitive auction with so many registrations like this for some time,” he said. “It felt like a normal, traditional campaign.”
Auctioneer Jake Moore extols the virtues of warehouse conversions to a captive audience.Audrey Richardson
Moore said warehouse conversions were a perennial favourite with buyers.
Related Article
“They will always have good interest because they are not cookie cutter,” he said. “But it was also an extremely realistic price.”
In Mosman, a five-bedroom home in the prestige enclave of Beauty Point passed in at $9.85 million.
Only one interested party registered to buy the well-appointed two-storey home at 36 Medusa Street but then failed to bid. Instead, there was a vendor bid of $9.85 million and the auction ended.
The reserve was also $9.85 million and the property had a guide of $9.5 million to $10 million, which was revised down to $9 million to $9.5 million after the auction.
The potential bidders were a couple who saw the potential in the property as a home for hosting their grandchildren.
Principal of Guildea Residential, Jason Guildea, said he was surprised by the types of buyers who had shown interest in the property.
The vendors are moving out of Sydney to be closer to their adult children.
In Huntleys Cove, a downsizer from Leichhardt paid $1.97 million for a ground floor apartment, $20,000 above the reserve.
Three groups registered to bid for the keys to G05/12 Karrabee Avenue, with two raising their paddles. Bidding opened at $1.7 million, going up in increments of $50,000 until it reached $1.9 million when it dropped back to several bids of $10,000 before the property sold.
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom property had a guide of $1.8 million and a reserve of $1.95 million.
The new owner, who is originally from the lower north shore, was attracted by the single level and the “future-proof” nature of the apartment, which was a deceased estate.
Sales agent for CobdenHayson Lane Cove, George Gialouris, said there was always a market for “A-grade” properties such as this.
“With properties like this [buyers] will still pull the trigger [at auction],” he said.
Save
You have reached your maximum number of saved items.
Remove items from your saved list to add more.
Gift this free article
Share full article with anyone — no subscription needed to read it. It won’t deduct your gift credits. Learn more
Share article as gift
Robyn Willis is a property reporter and the former lifestyle editor for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.From our partners