A luxurious Wahroonga house with a bedroom for pets sold for $9.1 million to a multigenerational family.
The six-bedroom, five-bathroom family estate at 23 Westbrook Avenue had multiple living quarters, including a bedroom for the family dog, and drew a crowd of 200 at auction on the weekend.
The impressive home had a price guide of $8 million and was rejuvenated with extensive renovations in 2018. The vendors converted the old office into a dog bedroom for their Tibetan mastiff, that was “looked after like a prince”, with a custom-built shower space.
Seamless outdoor living space was added as well as a two-level area that could be rented out separately or used for guests. Alongside the glamour of the infinity pool there is even a chicken coop and vegetable garden for sustainable living.
Three registered, all families looking to upsize in the area, and all three made offers.
Bidding opened at $7.6 million with bids of mostly $100,000 and $50,000. A total of 19 bids were placed until the final bid of $9.1 million secured the grand estate for a young family upsizing from the area.
While the price met the reserve, BresicWhitney’s Guido Scatizzi declined to share the exact figure.
Scatizzi said that, within the price range, there was not much of this calibre that was comparable.
“This is a very good house … these buyers knew that, if they didn’t find this, they had to wait a lot of time to find something of this calibre.”
The vendors are also a multigenerational family and are looking to move into an even larger home.
An extensive renovation was completed in 2018.Credit:
The buyers can’t wait to move in. They also have a dog and “loved that [pet] room”.
The house last traded for $3.7 million in 2015, records show.
The property was one of 667 scheduled auctions in Sydney at the weekend. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 68.3 per cent from 420 reported results, while 96 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.
In Concord West, at 14 The Drive, a three-bedroom, single-level red brick house sold for $3.03 million – about $330,000 above its $2.7 million reserve.
Auctioneer Edward Riley said the pace of the auction was so frenetic it was done and dusted within five minutes.
“There was an opening bid of $2.5 million. The next bid was $2.7 million and then literally, it was like rapid fire: $2.8 million, $2.9 million, $3 million. Then ... it was $1000, $10,000, $1000, $10,000. And we were done,” Riley said.
Nine registered to bid, all mostly young families, but, due to the aggressive and fast-paced nature of the bidding, only two were able to participate.
Selling agent Dib Chidiac from the eponymous agency said the vendors were extremely happy as they had reached their reserve by the second bid.
“We bought the auction forward by a week because of the demand and interest that we had,” Chidiac said.
The buyers are a young upsizing local family looking to renovate and extend.
In Cremorne, a two-bedroom apartment located at 4B/37 Reynolds Street sold under the hammer for $1.88 million.
Seven registered and four made offers on the well-maintained unit with beautiful views. The interest was from a mix of downsizers and young professionals.
Bidding opened at $1.45 million and went up in a mix of $10,000, $20,000 and $30,000 bids until it went above the guided range of $1.5 to $1.6 million. It sold $330,000 above reserve for $1.88 million.
BresicWhitney’s selling agent Shabina Kamal sold the tightly held unit. Kamal said the main drawcard of the property was the enclosed balcony.
“[The balcony] was quite oversized and had beautiful views over Middle Harbour. So that, combined with the price, was very attractive.”
Elsewhere, at 21 Church Street in Randwick a four-bedroom semi, devoid of furniture and virtually staged for the photos, sold bang on reserve for $2.5 million.
Five registered to bid and three actively bid, all owner occupiers. Bidding opened at $2.1 million below its $2.2 million guide and went up in $50,000, $10,000 and $5000 increments. It sold for $2.5 million to a first home buyer couple with a baby from Double Bay.
Selling agent Natalie Field from McGrath Coogee said all the interested parties were excited to have the opportunity to add value and make the home their own.
“You definitely have to do work to it before [moving in], which affected a lot of people who were happy to do that; young families that really just want to put their own spin on it,” Field said.
The vendor was a 91-year-old woman, over the moon with the result.
PRD’s chief economist, Dr Diaswati Mardiasmo, said the weekend clearance rate of 68.3 per cent was quite low for Sydney.
“The only reason why I’m saying it is low is because we have had the cash rate stable for quite a while now. And there isn’t any indication that the cash rate might be going up,” Mardiasmo said.
“They are taking their time a little bit in terms of finding the right property … we still have the demand, but it’s more of a cautious demand and buyers are much more sticky right now.”