146 Little Eveleigh St Redfern
Is the late arrival of one bidders wife enough to ruin the day for the lucky bidder #8?!
The property
146 Little Eveleigh Street Redfern is a 3 level, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom terrace. Land size of 103 sqm. There is no parking for the property, and it is situated mid way down a pedestrian only street. Effectively, the closest you can ever park your car is about 100m away.
It was clean and tidy, albeit, no recent renovations. It provided a great shell with scope for cosmetic only renovations to freshen up bathrooms, kitchen, flooring etc.
The photos used online were digitally styled as the property was presented empty.
The location is one of the nicer streets in Redfern. A mere 2 minute walk to Redfern station, yet far away to not be disturbed by train noise. It is immediately adjacent to a small pocket park. The Carriageworks markets are about a 5min walk away. Basically everything you would ever need is on your door step (except a car parking space!)
Reportedly, the property last sold in April 2022 for $675,000. This would have been wildly below value and it is likely the property was transferred amongst family members - and used a very low sales figure to reduce the stamp duty liability. Alternatively, perhaps it was a data anomaly triggered by the current owner refinancing their mortgage (although this rarely would show up on real estate or domain).
The sales campaign
The property came to market with a guide of $2,000,000 on 15 May 2023. Most properties run a 4 week campaign and the auction is that final Saturday. In this case, the auction was pushed out a week to 17 June. Usually a sign the property has not had strong interest.
Redfern had recorded 5 other sales of 3 bedroom houses in the past three months. This is reflective of the low stock market we are currently in. Additionally, of these other five, none were in the prime location that Little Eveleigh sits (as marked by the black cross below; red dots are the other recent sales).
The median house price for a 3 bed in Redfern currently sits at $1.65m.
The Auction | 3 registered bidders | 2 active
A lot of onlookers, not a lot of action
Most auctions have a long awkward silence when the auctioneer calls for an opening bid. This was no different. Perhaps what was different was the proportion of onlookers versus actual registered bidders. I did wonder if the auction was even going to go ahead at one stage.
Eventually it gets going
The opening bid came at the price guide of $2,000,000 by a bidder with their presumably lucky number 8 on the bidders card.
It took some time, but eventually in came a second bidder at $2,050,000. There was a quick return bid of $2,100,000.
This slowed bidder two down, coming back at $2,110,000. An early time in the auction to already be down at $10,000 bids but the auctioneer had little choice but to accept it. The third registered bidder was no where to be seen - maybe they had gone to move their car.
Lucky number 8 is straight back at $2,150,000.
Ping pong for $2,160,000 from Mr $10,000.
Lucky number 8 again straight back for $2,200,000. Was his luck about to run out though?
The property comes ‘on the market’ at $2,200,000
Unfortunately for lucky number 8, bidder two’s partner turned up and appeared to bring the cheque book with her. While the auctioneer is making his third and final call at $2,200,000, Mr $10,000’s partner puts in a bid to $2,210,000.
Lucky is back with $2,220,000.
Mr and Mrs $10,000 halve their strategy at this point and throw another $5,000 in for $2,225,000.
It is simply not enough for the man with all his lucky cards though - as he comes back at $2,300,000.
The auctioneer tries every trick in the book to get another $5,000, $1,000, and even $500 out of Mr and Mrs $10,000, but to no avail. At one point, the lady even congratulates the lucky bidder number 8.
Lucky bidder number 8 finally pulls through on his luck to purchase at $2,300,000. SOLD.
What this result says about the market
It was a strong result in a relatively neutral market. While the auction was not hot, or even really that interesting, it had an accurate price guide and was set to sell within 10% of the advertised guide. This is in itself rare in the inner Sydney market.
It far exceeded the recent sales on the street for other 3 bedroom homes with 157 selling for $1.71 in the market peak of 2021 and 139 selling for $1.35m in March 2021.
