The first home buyer purchases the Double Bay unit for $721,000

“The property was advertised modestly, so I expected a good response,” Stevenson said.

“This type of property in Double Bay is very desirable. There are hardly any one-bedroom apartments on the market.

“They are attractive to first-time home buyers and people looking to provide housing for their children. These properties are being sold at a premium.”

PPD Real Estate sales agent Sean Poche attributed the strong buyer interest to the price point, location and incentives for first-time home buyers.

“It’s a blue-chip suburb, it’s an entry point [for Double Bay]. You don’t get that many properties for $700,000, and with the incentives for first-time home buyers, they’re much more active in the market now,” Poche said.

He said the property was priced fairly, but stiff competition pushed the price above expectations

“Given that there were only two people there [at the end of the bidding] …we were lucky to get there. It could easily have fallen short. At the end of the day, our reserve was $600,000.”

The house last traded for $169,000 in 1995, Poche said.

The average unit price of Double Bay fell 4.8 percent to $1,785,000 in 2022, according to domain data.

In Canterbury, a CBD investor walked away with the keys to a $1.9 million four-bedroom house with a self-contained apartment at 28 Jeffrey Street.

The underbidder was another investor who lived a few doors down from the property, which ranged from $1.45 million to $1.55 million.

There were a dozen registered bidders, but only four attended the auction, which opened with a $1 million bid. The reserve was $1,595,000.

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Adrian William’s sales agent William Pereira said while rising interest rates had made buyers more cautious at auctions, many were still competing fiercely for the limited number of properties on the market.

“More and more buyers are taking a more conservative approach and not responding, but listing levels are so low that buyers are fighting for what’s there,” Pereira said.

“There were a lot of people on Jeffrey Street who weren’t Canterbury buyers. They were forced to go there. People are pushed out.”

The home last traded for $215,000 in 1992, records show.

Canterbury’s median home price slipped 1.8 percent last year to $3,217,000.

In Miranda, a four-bedroom house at 7 Graham Avenue was sold for $1,408,500 to a young family who wanted to renovate the property.

They were among 10 buyers who registered to bid on the home, which was estimated at $1.2 million to $1.25 million.

The auction opened with a reserve price of $1.25 million and seven buyers competed.

Adam Crawley of Ray White Sutherland Shire said the property has attracted interest from owner-occupiers looking for an upgrade as the home ticked many boxes for growing families.

“Obviously the price point [was attractive]it was in a good street, level yard, it was a reasonable price for a Shire house.”

Miranda’s median home price fell 3.5 percent in 2022 to $1.45 million.

In Stanhope Gardens, a young family bought a four bedroom house at 21 Thornbury Circuit for the reserve price of $1.5 million.

Nine buyers signed up to bid at the auction, which opened at $1.2 million, below the $1.4 million to $1.45 million guideline. The house was sold by Irving Gunawan of First National Hills Direct.

Cooley Auction’s Michael Garofolo said there was heavy buyer participation at the auctions on Saturday.

“If you’re selling for $1.5 million at Stanhope Gardens in this type of competition, that’s very encouraging,” Garofolo said. “That tells me the buyers are out there and they’re active.”

Stanhope Gardens’ median home price rose 2 percent last year to $1,305,000.

The block last traded in 2011 when it was sold by Landcom for $365,000, records show, and the home has since been built by Metricon, Garofolo said.