A Sydney family selling a dated green house sandwiched between mega mansions was left in tears after their home sold at auction for a surprise $2.85m.
The result appeared to please one of their agents as well, who was seen doing cartwheels in front of the for sale sign.
Different generations of the O’Donnell family were there to say goodbye to the home at 28 Tristram St, which they had owned for 67 years.
One of the family members, Ryan O’Donnell, said it was bittersweet but they were happy with the result.
“We didn’t really know what it would sell for, but we couldn’t be happier with the result,” he said. “It was my Nan and Pop’s home originally, there are a lot of memories in that house.”
Ryan and his sister Bridgett now live in Perth and were looking forward to bringing their father to join them in the Western state.
“It was good, Dad can have some closure and now move on and live out his retirement closer to us,” he said.
Listing agent Ahmad Malas from Melrose Estate Agents Ryde said it was a “cracking” auction.
“It was owned by a war veteran. It was an extremely emotional sale for the vendors,” he said.
The auction drew a crowd of 120 people and the entire street had to be blocked off to accommodate them.
“The owners were ecstatic, over the moon,” Mr Malas said.
The land, location and potential of the property drew the majority of the interested buyers, Mr Malas said.
There were 20 registered bidders, which auctioneer Francesco Princi of Cooley Auctions noted was a high number even in the current market.
“The bidding was aggressive from the start and went up in good healthy increments,” Mr Princi said.
He said most of the active bidders were developers.
The agent wouldn’t disclose the reserve price, but said the final bid was well above expectations.
The median house price in Ermington is currently $1.665m according to the latest PropTrack market data.
The home was one of nearly 750 properties scheduled to go under the hammer this week in what has been shaping up to be a busier spring.
The spring selling season in Sydney had a slow start with a 10 per cent dip in new listings between August and September.
Listings have been rising since then and the total number of city listings is now higher than at any point in the last year, according to PropTrack data.
There was a particularly strong increase in new listings, which jumped up by more than a fifth year on year.
PropTrack senior economist Anne Flaherty said the increase in listings was easing pressure off buyers by providing more choice.
But agents said that “A-grade” properties – well located homes that ticked most buyers’ boxes – remained rare and were still hotly contested.
The suburbs with the biggest increase in new listings over September were Hamlyn Terrace in The Central Coast, Marsfield and West Ryde.
The next two weeks are set to be even busier for auctions with 898 sales scheduled across Sydney next week and 1,060 the week after, according to PropTrack.
The auction clearance rate last week was 61 per cent.