Local couple buys upsizer inner west terrace for $50,000 below reserve

A couple celebrating their eighth wedding anniversary paid $2.2 million, $50,000 less than the reserve, for a newly built terrace in Enmore at auction on Saturday.

About 25 people gathered in the living area at the rear of the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home at 30 Francis Street as auctioneer James Keenan took bids from the two registered bidders.

Bidding opened at $2 million, followed by bids of $50,000 and $25,000. When activity stalled at $2,175,000, the lead bidders were invited to make a further offer of $2.2 million. After a few minutes’ negotiation, they did so and Keenan declared the property on the market.

No further bids were offered and the property sold. The property had a guide of $2.2 million and a reserve of $2.25 million.

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

The successful couple, who have a young daughter, said that as a family, they all had something unexpected in common with their new address.

The home was one of three recently completed terraces in a row and the only one with a single-car garage. Records show the terrace next door, which had four bedrooms but no off-street parking, sold last month for $2,235,000.

The new owners were upsizing from a two-bedroom home in Marrickville and liked that the property they had bought was a new build. The underbidders were a young couple from the inner south. The vendors were small-scale developers.

Ray White Erskineville agent Ercan Ersan said the turnout for the auction indicated “a bit more energy” was returning to the market.

“This is the biggest crowd I have had for a long time,” he said. “There is a bit more confidence from buyers – they are seeing value now.”

The turnkey nature of the property also turned buyers’ heads, he said.

“ It is so expensive to renovate now . A lot of people are in two-bedroom houses [they want to renovate] but then they get the [building quotes] and they see it is cheaper to sell and buy something that’s finished.”

The property was one of 479 scheduled to go to auction in Sydney this week.

In Naremburn, a group of seven vendors sold a property they jointly owned for $2.7 million, $200,000 less than its reserve, on Saturday.