A FAMILY in Carrington has "passed the baton" to another family in the suburb following the auction of a 1920s-era home.
The three-bedroom, one-bathroom weatherboard cottage at 47 Denison Street was sold under the hammer for $1.46 million with listing agent Brett Bailey from Ray White Newcastle on Saturday.
Mr Bailey said three of the six registered bidders resided in Carrington where the median house value has climbed to $1.02 million.
"In my experience, having worked in Carrington for so long, I usually find the best Carrington buyer already lives in Carrington," Mr Bailey said.
"That's what happened here.
"We had two families, both with strong links to the suburb, with one being the vendors and the other one being the buyers, so it made for a good combo."
The auction kicked off with an opening bid of $1.1 million and played out across a further nine bids between two of the bidders before it hit the reserve.
The winning bidder lived just 600 metres from the home.
Mr Bailey said it was an emotional sale for the vendors whose family had held the property for two generations.
"The vendors, which were the executors, were brought up in the house," he said.
"So the baton was passed on from one Carrington family to the next."
Mr Bailey said the property's 506 square metre block size, rear lane access and location appealed to buyers.
He said there were approximately only 38 blocks in Carrington that span more than 500 square metres.
The strong result surpassed recent comparable sales in the surrounding area, including a three-bedroom home on 525 square metres at 45 Howden Street.
"The last sale of a block on that size, which you could argue was a superior property in terms of condition and zoning, was 45 Howden Street," he said.
"That sold for $1.255 million about three months ago so this sale was considerable.
"The last significant sale to take place on that strip [Denison Street] was the property that Chris Joannou from Silverchair sold for about $1.6 milllion and that was fully renovated.
"This one needs a total and utter renovation."
Mr Bailey said the buyer was required to renovate the property rather than bulldoze it as the zoning specified that it cannot be demolished.
"This particular home has a port zoning which requires you to renovate it, so you can't knock it down," he said.
"Eight of them within that strip are with port zoning.
"Back in the 80s, the council wanted to zone all of Carrington light industrial but the community fought back against that and a compromise was made whereby everything south of Cowper Street was zoned light industrial if it wasn't already industrial zoning.
"Everything north of Cowper Street kept its zoning which was basically residential.
"That decision the Carrington residents fought for and won in the 80s, that has preserved the suburb's character as it is today."
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