It was a battle of first-home buyers when a one-bedroom unit on the lower north shore went to auction on Saturday.
More than 20 people squeezed into the split-level apartment at 37/13 Ernest Street, Crows Nest ??? one of 993 Sydney properties scheduled to go under the hammer. By evening, Domain Group had recorded a clearance rate of 66 per cent from 516 reported results.
Despite seven registered bidders in the crowd, auctioneer Briannan Davis of Cooley Auctions was greeted with silence when she called for an opening offer.
It was only as she prepared to pass the property in about a minute later that bidding kicked off with a $600,000 offer from a young family from neighbouring Wollstonecraft.
Another first-home buyer soon hit back with an offer of $610,000, and the bidding went up in $10,000 jumps, quickly passing the $650,000 stamp duty exemption limit for first-home buyers.
Despite that, a third first-home buyer jumped in at $670,000. They were quickly followed by an owner-occupier relocating from South Australia.
While the South Australian women looked to have it in the bag, she tapped out at $700,000 and the Wollstonecraft family bought the apartment for $701,000 - $71,000 above reserve.
First-home buyers Kerry and Andrew Ryan, who have been renting in Sydney for seven years, stretched themselves to the limit to buy into the suburb which has a median apartment price of $855,000.
"I did say our final offer would have to have a six at the front of it," Mr Ryan said. "Thankfully we only had to go $2000 above that."
The pair have been house hunting on and off for years, and were relieved that they'd no longer have to spend their Saturdays at open homes.
"We only recently decided to switch, from looking to buy a house we could live in, to an investment, as we wanted to get our foot on the ladder," Mr Ryan said.
"Now we can finally get our Saturday back," rejoiced Ms Ryan.
It's a feeling vendors Wilson and Candy Ng are longing for.
The pair, who records show bought the property for $510,000 in 2013, are selling their investment property to free up funds to upsize to a larger family home.
"We've been looking for almost a year," said Ms Ng. "Hopefully our luck will change now."
Selling agent Lucy White of Morton Crows Nest said the race was on for buyers to secure a property before Christmas.
"We had a big response to this property," she said. "There's not much left to come on the market this year, and I think that was another motivating factor here, with buyers keen to get in before Christmas."
First home buyers also gained the upper hand at two auctions in the city's eastern suburbs on Saturday morning.
In Paddington, a three-bedroom terrace at 55 Stewart Street was snapped up by a young woman, currently renting in the suburb with her fiance.
Bidding on the home, which records show last traded for $1.78 million in 2009, kicked off at $2 million.
It quickly went up in $100,000 and $50,000 increments as a first-home buyer and another bidder went head-to-head, only slowing after hitting $2.65 million.
A phone bidder joined in and took the bidding up to $2.75 million, which the first-home buyer - on the phone to her fiance throughout the auction - topped with the winning bid of $2,755,000.
She was delighted to nab the home, which sold for below its $2.8 million written reserve, ahead of her wedding in five weeks time.
Selling agent William Phillips of BresicWhitney Darlinghurst said it was a strong result in the current market.
Meanwhile in Coogee, a young local family bidding over the phone managed to nab a two-bedroom apartment at 1/27 Moira Crescent, that sold for $65,000 above reserve.
The family, who were interstate during the auction, were among six bidders that competed for the home, driving the price up in $50,000 and $25,000 jumps.
They outbid an investor, downsizers and several other young families and couples to snap up the courtyard apartment for $1,515,000. The apartment sold through Nicholas Wise of McGrath Coogee.
First-home buyers were the silver lining in the Australian Bureau of Statistic's latest housing finance data, released earlier this month.
While mortgage lending to both investors and owner occupiers fell in September, the percentage of first-home buyer mortgage commitments reached a 4.5 year high.
Elsewhere in Sydney:
4 Judge Street, Randwick Photo: Supplied
SOLD $2.71 million
Randwick
4 Judge Street
4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1 car space
This corner block, held by the one family for about 70 years, sold for $510,000 above reserve. Bidding opened at $1.8 million and went up in $50,000 and $20,000 jumps as four of eight registered bidders vied for the keys. It sold to a semi-retired couple who plan to renovate. While the property attracted interest from builders throughout the sales campaign, thanks to its R3 medium density zoning, selling agent Daniel Gillespie of Belle Property Bondi Junction said only owner-occupiers made offers on the day.
3 Pembury Close, Denham Court. Photo: Supplied.
SOLD $3.48 million
Denham Court
3 Pembury Close
6 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, 10 car spaces
Despite attracting five registered bidders and being inspected by more than 50 groups, this grand Tudor-inspired mansion failed to sell under the hammer. Bidding on the property, spanning one hectare, opened at $3 million and went up in $50,000 and $20,000 increments. However offers from three of the parties weren't enough to secure a sale and the home passed in at $3.4 million. Hours later the property sold through Glen Craigie of McGrath Estate Agents Liverpool, to one of the registered bidders who hadn't made an offer at auction. It sold for $20,000 shy of the $3.5 million written reserve.
89/23 Norton Street, Leichhardt Photo: Supplied
SOLD $1,056,000
Leichhardt
89/23 Norton Street
3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 car spaces
It was a two-man race for this apartment in Leichhardt's Italian Forum. An investor who owns a two-bedroom apartment in the building and an owner-occupier renting in the building went head-to-head for the 157-square-metre property. After an opening offer of $900,000 was rejected, bidding started at $970,000. From there it went up in mainly $10,000 increments, and sold to the investor for $56,000 above the $1 million reserve. Records show the property, sold through Simone Azzi of Belle Property Annandale, last sold in 2004 for $540,000.
