Saturday 12 September 2009

A very Sydney Saturday

(photos taken on my iPhone)
Nothing obsesses a true Sydney-sider more than real estate - the price of their own property, the amount their neighbour expects for theirs, the value added by a "water glimpse", or their feigned disinterest in it all (ha! don't believe it for a moment!). One way to spend Saturdays is out tyre-kicking, looking at open houses, and attending auctions. Now you might think that because the world is in the middle of an economic meltdown that housing might be off the boil in Sydney. And there you would be wrong. It has gone down a bit at the top end (the multi, multi million dollar places), but in the middle and lower markets, it's still bubbling away. (Australia, by the way, is the only G20 country NOT in recession).

I thought I'd meander along to have a look at this rather nice place not far from where I live. Auctioneer, Tony Gardner has been selling houses in Bexley and surrounds for 30 years (and I reckon he could do a nice sideline in Kevin Rudd impersonations). He sold my mum and dad's place.

So to business. The bidding opened at 750 thousand, and then the bids went: $800k, $810K, $820K ...nice and steady. Then a confident bid of $850K, seeking to blast the opposition out of the race. OK, so at $850, it was called "on the market...which means it has reached the reserve price and will sell. Someone decided to slow it down...$851K, then $870K, $871K, $880K, $881K, $900K, $901K ....the cat and mouse game was on. Confidence reigned and the bids went $910K, $920K, $930K, $940K, $950K, $965K, $970K, $975K, $980K, $985K, $990K, $995K, $1 million, $1,005,000, $1,006,000, $1,007,000, $1,008,000 and, finally it was knocked down at $1,010,000. There were 16 registered bidders, and I think about 4 took part.

So there you are, property moguls, that's what one million and ten thousand dollars could buy you on a sunny September Saturday in a middle-distance bog-ordinary Sydney suburb, under the airport flight path. A nicely renovated 1930s house, with 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a new kitchen/family room and second living room. A garage and carport, and a couple of sheds, on an 803 square metre block. (There's another shed at the bottom of the yard. And don't forget you get the Hills Hoist as well :- In fact, houses in Australia are usaully sold with light fittings, curtains, carpets, oven and cooktops and rangehoods and frequently dishwasher as well if it is fitted and not worth moving).

13 comments:

  1. wow! that sure was interesting!

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  2. I love Californian bungalows and think we Australians made a huge mistake when we stopped building them in WW2. The Sydney prices are insane, but the architecture is perfect for a small family.

    By the way, I agree that nothing obsesses a true Sydney-sider more than real estate. My husband, who left Sydney in 1970, still scans the real estate ads every Saturday and checks the prices obtained every Monday. It must be in the blood!

    Of course he still calls bathers "cossies" and he still calls a football umpire "ref". So you can take the lad out of Sydney, but you cannot take Sydney out of the lad.

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  3. Gosh, this takes me back. This was me for three years in Cairns. So you didn't buy....

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  4. It's a California Bungalow - but what have they done to the front?

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  5. Nothing except paint. Original bricks, bay window, wooden shingle under the window.

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  6. Sydney-sider Sally showed some seriously spendy, suburban "shacks!"

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  7. This was an interesting and informative post. Thanks!

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  8. The Auctioneer looks like Donald Trump

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  9. Converting it to Sterling, the house would cost about £561,000. A little too much for for my pocket, and probably a little too big for our needs.

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  10. Lordy, lordy, Sally. No wonder young families despair and, failing moving to the West, spend their lives in apartments.

    Good post.

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  11. Well, I guess by world standards we're a very low density city - it's very very unusual to find suck a huge block of land within 10 kms of the city centre in most cities. And so the demand vs scarcity drives up prices, eh.

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  12. YOWSA! That is amazing! Course we have many cities like that in USA where you would pay at least a million for something like that - NYC, LA, San Jose, San Diego - sometimes closer to 2 or 3 million.

    How does anyone in Sidney afford a mortgage?

    I live in quiet little Utah where a home like that in suburban Salt Lake could be had now for a mere $300,000.

    I

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  13. Oops - my bad - meant to spell Sydney correctly!

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