Hi all, I’m in the market for a property in the Surry Hills/Redfern area and have been keeping a pretty close eye on the market. There is one property which in particular seems to have gone on the (relatively speaking) cheap cheap and trying to work out why the vendor accepted the offer. Here is the property: https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-apartment-nsw-redfern-132910990 A generously proportioned 1 bedroom with second toilet and parking, walk in robe, new kitchen, freshly painted, north east aspect, elevated etc. I called the agent and they have informed me that the property sold prior to auction for 715k. Having a look at some of the comps over the past few months, this seems strangely low for the property. There are 89sqm on the title, and discounting the car space it is around 75sqm which even puts it into the size of some 2br units. I appreciate that 715k is still quite high for a 1br, but let’s have a look at some comps in the area in the last month: https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-apartment-nsw-redfern-132777538 703k for a sub 50sqm 1 bedroom with no parking. https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-apartment-nsw-redfern-132859386 770k for a 1,1,1 apartment with an internal facing balcony. I went to the open house for this and I feel like I would be spied on 24/7 by the 100 other balconies looking at you. https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-apartment-nsw-surry+hills-132919062 809k for a quasi-studio (separate bedroom, but no windows). https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-apartment-nsw-surry+hills-132737990 700k for a 1,1,1 which is around half the size of the property in question. https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-apartment-nsw-alexandria-132913218 835k for a 1,1,1 which seems broadly comparable to target property. Split level, but arguably inferior from an accessibility to transport perspective. This one was reported in the SMH on the weekend. https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-apartment-nsw-zetland-132891262 750k for a 1,1,1, it has a separate study but is smaller than the property in question and doesn’t have a second toilet. Again, accessibility issues of Zetland compared to Redfern would make me think Redfern has more intrinsic value. Is it just me or did the purchaser for Regent Place seem to get a sound deal? Looking at the comps in early 2020, I would be thinking that it should have gone for 770 to 800k+ had it gone to auction. What are some common reasons why the vendor would accept what appears to be a (relatively) low-ish pre-auction offer compared to some comparison properties in the area? Or perhaps this is just a case of the agent and vendor both not really being aware of the market?
Maybe the buyer had cash and could do a quick deal? That can be of interest sometimes if a seller needs to get out of a property in a hurry.
Maybe he rented the property out to a wealthy Chinese student who bailed out on him, and he read the writing on the wall about the market, and wanted it sold before everyone figures it out.
we are getting a few of those borrowers/buyers, that pro activley took the opportunity to mitigate risk, by locknutting their equity, and/or increase access to liquid cash in times of opportunity - such as the above, and the equities market once it settles to some sort of floor. Quite a few others are looking from the sidelines due lending lockouts ( mainly due to income not secure, but also seeing FULL valuations either not accessible due to bug issues, OR the bug spread is showing up in some sales data already, with 10 to 15 % spreads common) Kerbside show a similar trend Desktops less so Computer based estimates are still ok, until the data starts flowing through ta rolf
These agents from Double Bay generally sell a different type of product and this particular apartment is larger than your standard 1/1/1. Interestingly, one of those agents sold me a 1/1 about 17 years ago for $180k which at the time I felt was undervalued!
