Under the hammer: 2 Lloyd Road, Lambton
THE auction of a new architecturally-designed house at Lambton attracted a crowd of around 80 people on the weekend, with the property eventually selling to downsizers who were drawn to the property's low-maintenance yard and central position close to Lambton Park and Lambton shopping village.
It was one of eight auctions held in Newcastle last week, with six results recorded through CoreLogic including five sales and one uncleared.
Auction action is slowly increasing and the number of homes taken to auction will continue to rise over the coming weeks, according to CoreLogic data, with more than 1,300 auctions expected to be held next week across the combined capitals.
These results will provide clarity on whether buyer confidence has increased.
Elsewhere, a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home with a pool on a 1,021 square metre block sold for $1,475,000 at 6 Ragan Close Adamstown Heights on Saturday.
On Friday, a renovated three-bedroom, one-bathroom Victorian terrace at 65 Gipps Street, Carrington sold for $1,250,000 at auction, while a two-bedroom, one-bathroom renovated home at 7 Burnett Street, Mayfield west sold prior to auction for $750,000 and set a new street record in the process.
At Charlestown, a 1960s-era home in original condition sold at auction on Sunday for $801,000 at 51 EK Avenue.
Belle Property's Nick Townsend, who sold the house at Mayfield West, said homes selling prior to auction is a trend that has continued into the new year following a drop in buyer demand.
"We had a lot of interest and someone came in with a significantly high offer so we took it," he said.
"We listed with the intention of having the auction day there as a deadline. You get buyer feedback and because there's not a lot of urgency at the moment, if there is a buyer there who is really interested you can offer to buy it now before auction.
"It's a bit of a trend at the moment. A lot are getting passed in, so it is in the best interest sometimes to sell it before auction."
We spoke with listing agent Joshua Lloyd from Harcourts Newcastle about the auction result at 2 Lloyd Road, Lambton.
The property: Brand new three-bedroom, two-bathroom home on a 373 square metre block located close to Lambton Park.
The result: We went to auction and sold under the hammer for $1,292,500.
How many registered bidders? We had 10 registered bidders on the day. It was a really good result.
How did the auction unfold? We had a lot of people there. There were a lot of interested parties and a lot of the neighbours turned out too. There was about 80 people. The crowd reminded me of the late 2020 and 2021 market, to be honest. It was a great atmosphere.
What made this property special? It was a brand new house on one level in Lambton within walking distance of the park, cafes and pubs. It was a really sought-after style of property that there aren't a lot of in the area. It was a brand new build that hadn't been lived in which was completed in 2022. Peter Sosso was the builder and Jason Topic was the architect behind the design. They both did an incredible job. We had 296 inquiries and around 120 people through the doors during the campaign, so there was a lot of interest which, I think, is partly because people don't want to renovate. The cost of building has gone through the roof, delays in getting good-quality trades have increased and building materials costs have increased. A lot of the people that attended were buyers of that older demographic who were looking to downsize from areas like New Lambton, New Lambton Heights, Wallsend and Waratah who want to be able to walk to the shops and cafes, and not just live in a spec home. The finishes were very high in this home as well and it was really well built.
Where were buyers from? The vast majority were local. In fact, I would say at least nine out of 10 of the buyers were local.
How did the auction unfold? The bidding started quite low at $1 million. It was spirited bidding from five parties and bidding stalled at $1.24 million. We amended the reserve price to reflect that and said the property was on the market and then the bidders who were waiting to hear that the property was on the market then got involved. The bidding went up in $5000 increments and then $2,500 increments up until $1,292,500. The final bid was a $2,500 bid. It was $1.29 million and then $1,292,500.
Was the result a surprise? The feedback from potential buyers was that it sat between $1,115,000 and early $1.2s [million]. At the end of the day there were two buyers who were downsizing and both really wanted it. For the last $50,000 they both went toe-to-toe. So, was it a surprise? To a degree. It was a good price and the vendor was happy. I always thought that a property like that with the demographic it was targeting was probably going to sell for a bit more than what people were saying they were prepared to pay. It was quite a small yard but Lambton Park is 100 metres away so it offered a low-maintenance lifestyle but you still had the option of going down to the park.
