On Saturday, a 1 bedroom / 1 bathroom unit with no parking was sold at McMahons Point for $715,000. The living area had spectacular views of the water and the bedroom also had views – of the Harbour Bridge. The complex of only 6 Units is on waterfront with ownership of a jetty as well.
The Unit was packed to the brim with spectators and there was over a dozen registered bidders.
The selling agent had quoted “over $540,000” and was clear that the property would be taken to Auction. The price guide was clearly misleading as the vendors purchased this Unit for $540,000 over 4.5 years ago and had renovated it since then. As recently as the day prior to Auction, he had been indicating that interests lay “either side of $600,000”. This was despite the fact that a nearly identical Unit in the complex sold just a few months ago for nearly $650,000!
The opening bid was made at $500,000 and the Auctioneer very quickly pointed out that he was looking for increments of $25,000 – an indication that the opening bid was very far off the reserve.
There were unfortunately a lot of inexperienced young buyers whose hopes were quickly crushed when they realised the Unit would sell for significantly more than the agent had quoted. Gasps could be heard throughout the room when the bidding reached $700,000.
Perhaps a disappointed bidder summed it up best. When she was registering, the agent asked if she had a lucky number she wanted on the bidder’s card. To which she responded: “I don’t think a lucky number will matter. It’s just about the deepest pocket!”
The reserve was not disclosed.
About Oliver Stier
Oliver J. Stier is the Director of OH Property Group, a leading Sydney buyers agency. He studied Quantitative Economics and Finance at Cambridge University (UK), University of Toronto (Canada) and Princeton University (USA). In addition to being a licensed real estate agent, Oliver also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.
