Tiny Bondi apartment, with no carpark, sells to investor for $511,000

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An investor snapped up a tiny Bondi Beach studio apartment, the size of a small hotel room, for $511,000 after making a final $1000 bid to win the keys on Saturday.

The apartment at 21/68 Gould Street was 17 square metres in size and had no car parking, but was sought after because it was just minutes from the water. It sold above the $500,000 reserve and $465,000 guide.

Four bidders registered for the auction, including first home buyers, and three actively made offers – with bidding opening at $450,000.

Offers of $10,000 and $5000 quickly followed. Once bidding hit the $500,000 reserve, lower increments took the price to $510,000, with a final $1000 bid from the buyer sealing the deal.

Selling agent Ray White Eastern Beaches’ Luke Fuller said the apartment’s proximity to the beach made it the perfect place for a long-term tenant, or even for use as a short-stay rental.

“If you want to have a one- or two-night stay in Bondi – and really be amongst it – it’s perfect,” Fuller said.

The apartment is only the size of a hotel room but still sold above the reserve.Credit: Ray White Eastern Beaches

The studio apartment’s vendor was also an investor, who had owned it for almost 30 years, buying it in 1996 for $96,000, records show. The buyer, from Earlwood, also plans to use it as a rental.

The Bondi apartment was one of 859 scheduled auctions in Sydney on Saturday.

By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 64.5 per cent from 558 reported results, while 152 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

PRD Real Estate’s chief economist Dr Diaswati Mardiasmo said the 64.5 per cent clearance rate showed the market was stable, and the shock of another interest rate rise in November was wearing off.

“When it comes to the property market, undersupply is still a big issue. That is a main driver [of strong sales],” Mardiasmo said.

He expects that there will be no rate rise in December. The Reserve Bank of Australia board is due to meet on Tuesday to make their next decision.

In Hunter’s Hill, an auction that resulted in a historic sandstone home selling for $8.5 million ended in cheers from the crowd after the buyer, purchasing with his girlfriend, proposed to her at its conclusion.

The five-bedroom home at 28 Joubert Street sold well above the $7.15 million reserve to the happy couple, who are now planning their wedding.

They were one of four registered bidders at the auction who beat out two other active bidders for the home built in 1850.

Bidding opened at $6.4 million, with $50,000 and $100,000 offers taking it quickly to the reserve. Another $300,000 bid was then thrown into the ring, as bidding continued until it sold for $8.5 million to the buyers from the inner west.

Selling agent Nicholas McEvoy from BresicWhitney Hunters Hill said the proposal had added some extra life to the well-contested auction.

“The crowd all clapped and cheered for the couple,” McEvoy said.

BresicWhitney auctioneer Thomas McGlynn said the strong bidding proved specialty homes such as the one on Joubert Street were still selling well.

AMP’s chief economist Dr Shane Oliver said top-end sales in Sydney usually led the direction of the property market.

“We have been seeing some softening in the upper end occurring, and then it pushes weakness down through the rest of the housing market,” Oliver said.

At the opposite end of the market, a two-bedroom unit in Liverpool that needed of a major renovation sold for just $295,000 – one of the most affordable sales on Saturday.

Five active bidders made offers on 24/30 Speed Street, taking the price above its $255,000 to $285,000 guide.

Elders Liverpool’s Frank Polistina said the majority of bidders on the rundown property were investors.

“I suppose there are a lot of investors that are probably a little bit cashed up and can spend $300,000 quite easily,” Polistina said.

In Blacktown, seven active bidders competed for a neat, four-bedroom house at 48 Swinson Road that sold for $1,802,500 to a local family wanting to upgrade.

The property had 26 buyers register to bid for the property which had no guide, but buyer feedback placed the expected sale price around $1.5 million.

Selling agent Matthew Lucas from LJ Hooker Blacktown said most buyers hailed from out of the area as they were looking for something they could better afford as interest rates rose.

“People are trying to get the best money for value. So a lot of our Parramatta or Westmead buyers, Wentworthville, Pendle Hill buyers are all coming further down the railway corridor into Seven Hills and Blacktown chasing affordability,” Lucas said.

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