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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n An unusual selling strategy led to a standout result at auction on Saturday when a Five Dock home listed with a published reserve sold for about $200,000 more.<\/p>\n The three-bedroom house at 28 Sutton Street<\/a>, which features charming decorative ceilings and a period fireplace and is near a future metro station site, had a reserve stated on the listing of $2.2 million. It sold to an upsizing family for $2,401,000.<\/p>\n The property was one of 580 scheduled to go to auction in Sydney last week. By Saturday evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 53 per cent from 353 reported results throughout the week, while 124 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.<\/p>\n The clearance rate has edged off its lows after hitting an early result of 47 per cent three weeks ago<\/a> but remains in territory that suggests prices are falling. A result of 60 per cent is considered a balanced market, and the early result is likely to be revised down as more results are reported.<\/p>\n The Five Dock home attracted two registered bidders \u2013 a younger family upsizing from the Kingsgrove area and a local investor \u2013 both of whom competed at auction.<\/p>\n Related Article Bidding began at $2 million and rose in $50,000 increments until $2.2 million, when the stride shortened. The upsizing family won the day, McGrath Strathfield selling agent Michael Murphy said.<\/p>\n \u201c[They] loved the amenity in Five Dock,\u201d he said, adding the Five Dock metro station is being built nearby.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that was stronger than most auctions at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Vendors often set the reserve price on the morning of the auction, and it is rarely disclosed on the online listing<\/a>. But Murphy said the reserve of this deceased estate had been published in the last week of the campaign to give full transparency to the market about the price expectations for the property.<\/p>\n \u201cIt did well to pass those expectations,\u201d he said. \u201cI felt the owner\u2019s expectations were realistic. I feel that sometimes buyers don\u2019t have full trust in the auction process when it comes to auctions\u2019 buyer\u2019s guides.\u201d<\/p>\n On the northern beaches, an investor outbid young couples for a pocket-sized house in Cromer, paying $1,352,000.<\/p>\n The two-bedroom home at 42A Toronto Avenue<\/a> was set on a block of only 171 square metres that used to be the garage of the home at number 42, but had been subdivided.<\/p>\n Related Article The median house price in Cromer is $2,555,000 on Domain data, and the median for the northern beaches region is $2.8 million.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is entry-level for a freestanding home on the northern beaches,\u201d Stone Real Estate Greenwich selling agent Chris Keane said. \u201cVery, very good buying, in my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n Five parties registered for the auction and four participated. The opening bid was $1,203,000 \u2013 just above the $1.2 million guide \u2013 after an earlier offer of $1,003,000 was declined.<\/p>\n Bidding was consistent in mostly $10,000 and $15,000 increments. The home sold for $102,000 more than its reserve of $1.25 million.<\/p>\n There is no legal requirement for a vendor\u2019s reserve to be in line with their property\u2019s price guide.<\/p>\n Keane said that for well-presented homes, competition could still be fierce.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think the market is booming,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is certainly evidence that buyer confidence is improving.\u201d<\/p>\n In Croydon, a renovated family home is still available after passing in at auction on a bid of $3.85 million.<\/p>\n The vendors of the four-bedroom Californian bungalow at 25 Hammond Avenue<\/a> had upgraded the kitchen, bathrooms and floors over the past few years.<\/p>\n The home was listed with a price guide of $3.6 million and drew four registered bidders, of whom two made offers for the more than 800-square-metre block.<\/p>\n Bidding began at $3.5 million and rose in $25,000 and $10,000 increments.<\/p>\n An upgrader made the highest bid of $3.85 million, at which point the home passed in. The vendors\u2019 reserve was $3.9 million.<\/p>\n Related Article The underbidder intended to knock the home down and rebuild a duplex. The vendors are a family hoping to downsize.<\/p>\n Belle Property Strathfield selling agent Norman So hoped the home would sell in the next week or two.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause the market changed so quickly – we started the year with a war, then interest rates crept up a little bit, then you had the budget,\u201d So said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe purchasers reacted very quickly. It is taking my vendors a bit of time to adapt.\u201d<\/p>\n In Schofields, a family home sold for $1,479,777 in a fast Sunday auction as sellers who had been able to buy elsewhere at a substantial discount in a weakening market took a slight haircut on their hopes.<\/p>\n Bidding for the five-bedroom house at 6 Ashburton Crescent<\/a> began at its price guide of $1.4 million and the two registered parties, local upgraders, competed.<\/p>\n Ray White Schofields\/Riverstone selling agent Amit Kumar said the winners made the unusual final bid because they really wanted the home.<\/p>\n The vendors\u2019 reserve had been $1.49 million. \u201cIt was only $10,000 away so they were happy to meet the market,\u201d Kumar said.<\/p>\n He said the sellers were also upgrading and had bought a $2.4 million home for about $2.2 million, leaving them about $190,000 ahead.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is actually the perfect market to upgrade,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is a little bit patchy. Some of the properties are doing really well \u2026 some of the properties have less bidders.\u201d<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Tanderra](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783849333_103_f2d93f8d0fcc45f5b2110c436c3b1471aa34a3143cdc6048378a7313ab249ddb.jpeg\")
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Elizabeth Redman<\/a> is the national property editor at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":795238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-795237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}