North Curl Curl fibro shack sells for the first time in 60 years for $2.66 million at auction

Prized for its prime position in the heart of the popular seaside suburb, the three-bedroom cottage, at 120 Abbott Road, North Curl Curl, on a gently sloping 550-square-metre lot, attracted 22 registered buyers to the Saturday auction.

It also revealed the heat of the city’s sizzling market, selling agent Matt McEwan of McGrath Manly said, which is continuing to soar to record heights despite the pandemic forcing buyers across Sydney and Melbourne to bid sight unseen.

“The house next door, which was brick and in much better condition, sold at the end of February for $2.175 million … and, pound for pound, it was a better property. So, considering this home was only a knockdown, this result is just huge,” Mr McEwan said.

“In fact, it’s incredible how much the market has shifted in just six months …. the reserve on this house was $2.2 million, and we hit that with the opening bid … and we still had people registering for it right before the auction started and some missed out.”

The cottage was one of 311 homes to sell across Sydney on Saturday, with a strong clearance rate of 83 per cent reported.

“I’ve been selling on the northern beaches for 30 years, and it’s like the perfect storm for vendors right now … My prediction for this year is that I will be working on Christmas eve, which is normally quiet,” Mr McEwan said.

While buyers from “far and wide” vied for the North Curl Curl cottage on Saturday, he said a local family with plans to demolish the home and replace it with a modern family abode landed the winning bid to become the second owners in its long history.

Just 12 kilometres south in the exclusive suburb of Mosman, an immaculate five-bedroom house on a 664-square-metre block at 11 Wolseley Road claimed the highest national sale price of the day, despite selling prior to auction for $10.6 million.

The home last sold in 2004 for $3.7 million, and three interested parties plated up strong interest from the moment it went live, selling agent Tim Foote of Belle Property Mosman said. A local home hunter delivered the most compelling pre-auction offer to land the property with stunning water views.

“I think it was the combination of the Balmoral slopes (location) and then the fact it was a couple of hundred metres to the beach, with views overlooking bushland [that sparked the incredible result],” Mr Foote said.

“While homes like these are not as rare as hens’ teeth, they are tightly held … and there’s a shortage of supply … but right now everyone is talking about ‘freedom day’ (when restrictions ease), so I think you’ll start to see the spring selling season line up with Melbourne Cup.”

In Brisbane, a quintessential Queenslander that had been in the same family for 25 years earned the city’s top sale of the day after a rural Queensland buyer paid $3.525 million under the hammer for the home at 17 Boston Street, Clayfield.

The character-filled home, which earned the gong for Queensland Master Builder’s best renovation in 2012, attracted more than 10 registered bidders on the day, selling agent Tony Mower of Havig and Jackson Real Estate said, in what was a stellar preview to the spring selling season.

“It’s just a beautiful home … but what’s interesting is the fact that we had three rural Queensland registered bidders … and that shows a real shift in the market because those rural areas are improving in terms of their economies,” Mr Mower said.

“We also had two (virtual) bidders from Sydney, but there was a strong local field. Bidding kicked off at $2.5 million, and it was a fairly quick auction. We paused at $3.4 million and opened it onto the market … and it sold for close to the reserve.”

Over in Carindale, a sprawling mini-mansion set a new suburb record for a home on the golf course after a Brisbane family paid $2.35 million under the hammer.

Selling agent Jason Adcock of Adcock Prestige said 178 groups walked through the doors of 34 Fairway Place prior to the auction, with eight written offers also submitted prior to Saturday.

“It was the frontage to the golf course [that sparked such strong interest] – it’s very rare to buy homes in that position … and it’s the first time in 22 years that it has hit the market. The vendors are empty-nesters, and they are moving on to the next stage of their life,” Mr Adcock said.

While tight stock levels have further fuelled buyer demand in the sunshine state capital, Mr Adcock said he had just listed a handful of high-end homes.

“Prestige buyers have been starved of choice, so the feast is about to start,” he said.

Across Brisbane, just 49 homes sold under the hammer – from 63 auctions – on Saturday, resulting in a 78 per cent clearance rate.

Of those, McGrath Wilston agent Craig Lea sold a four-bedroom brick home at 12 Hunter Street, Albion, for $1.5 million, smashing the reserve by $500,000. While over at 185 Westlake Drive, Westlake, Judi O’Dea, of Ray White Paddington, collected $2.45 million for the spacious five-bedroom estate with a pool – $350,000 above the reserve.

In Melbourne, the long lockdown has led to hundreds of vendors pulling their homes from auction, which resulted in only 125 properties selling under the hammer on Saturday.

Despite the sluggish turnout, a 76 per cent clearance rate was collated with property experts reporting buyer appetite remains insatiable.

Of the homes that sold, an unrenovated cottage at 37 Glen Iris Road, Camberwell, fetched $2.65 million after 12 virtual registered bidders battled it out for the property on a 866-square-metre lot.

“This one was essentially a block of land, and the purchasers (who are locals) will live in it initially and then build two townhomes there,” selling agent Brad Cooper of Marshall White Boroondara said.

“It was on the market at $2.5 million, and while we loaded it online just prior to the lockdown, we had a lot of interest, so we just decided to bring it to a head.

“The family had been there for about 40 years, and in the end, that one worked out to be worth about $3060 per square metre, and it’s on a secondary road, so that’s a really good price.”

Despite the quarantine drastically thinning out the city’s already slim listings, Mr Cooper said their team had still managed to sell 40 homes during the lockdown sight unseen, with a belated spring rush tipped to keep them working hard until Christmas.

Over at 10 Amaroo Drive, Chelsea Heights, a three-bedroom brick home on a 530-square-metre block collected $925,000 at auction on Saturday – just more than the $900,000 reserve.

Buxton Real Estate Mentone director and auctioneer Wesley Belt said the home was sold as a deceased estate, with the vendors – two sisters – nervous about the online sale in the lead up to Saturday.

“The two sisters were very reluctant to do a virtual auction, and I had to convince them to go ahead,” he said.

Mr Belt said the property had been listed a few days before lockdown in early August, which allowed some of the five registered buyers to look through the property before bidding online, with a young owner-occupier family winning the keys.

With Melbourne vendors anticipating an end to the lockdown soon, Mr Belt said virtual appraisals had risen, and this spelt more good news for the final quarter of 2021.