A young family have secured their first home after beating out an investor to purchase a three-bedroom Gordon house for less than $680,000.
The house at 10 Mckivat Close sold during a midweek auction, ahead of a quiet weekend for real estate activity due to the Queen's Birthday long weekend.
Marketed as an "exciting opportunity to enter the market", the home is located on a 490-square-metre block and includes an open-plan kitchen and dining area, a separate living room, laundry, one bathroom and a double garage.
Independent Property Group Tuggeranong's Adrian Stroh and Karen Brill marketed the property for sale during a three-week campaign.
Mr Stroh said five bidders registered for the auction on Wednesday evening, which opened with a bid of $550,000.
There was one investor in the mix and the rest were first home buyers, including the eventual purchasers who secured the home with a $679,500 bid.
"It was a lovely young family that got it in the end, which is great," Mr Stroh said.
Built in 1993, the single-level house last changed hands in 2018 for $443,000, CoreLogic records show.
The seller had recently upgraded the home with new carpets, paint and lighting, plus renovations to the bathroom.
"They just tried to make it a home that first home buyers can get into and not be stressed about spending money immediately," Mr Stroh said.
He said the sale was a good example of the properties available for first home buyers willing to look outside Canberra's inner city suburbs.
"I think as an alternative to apartments or townhouses, freestanding homes in the outer areas on smaller blocks are a really good, low-maintenance opportunity, especially for younger people who want to spend more time enjoying their weekend and not tending to a quarter-acre block," he said.
It was one of just 68 Canberra properties that were scheduled for auction over the week to Sunday, June 12, compared to 125 the week prior.
According to CoreLogic's preliminary reporting, seven properties sold prior to auction for the week, 13 were passed in and seven were withdrawn from auction.
Activity was down throughout the country due to a majority of states observing a long weekend. A total 1393 homes were taken to auction across the combined capitals, down from 2644 the previous week.
Canberra's preliminary clearance rate of 59.2 per cent was the second highest of the capital cities, coming in after Adelaide (78.7 per cent).
CoreLogic research analyst Caitlin Fono said the reduced volume of auctions was similar to this time last year when 1413 auctions were recorded.
"Today's preliminary clearance rates are the lowest over the year to date for most of the capital cities, including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra, reflecting more challenging selling conditions for vendors," she wrote in the weekly market summary.
"We will see these conditions tested further next week as auction volumes rebound to around 2600 across the combined capitals."
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