August 1, 2026 — 2:00pmA two-bedroom townhouse sold in Lilyfield for $1.42 million on Saturday to an inner west couple buying their first home following a shift in the market.Bidding for the property at 2/45 Henry Street opened at $1.2 million after an initial offer of $1,050,000 was rejected by BresicWhitney auctioneer Toby Llewellyn. Increments of $50,000, $25,000 and $10,000 followed, finally slowing to smaller bids of $3000 and $2000.Seven parties registered, with four active. It had a guide of $1,275,000 and a reserve of $1.35 million.There is no legal requirement for a vendor’s reserve to be in line with their property’s price guide.Competition was focused mainly on two bidders, with an occasional offer from a third bidder. Llewellyn raised the gavel several times to end the auction before a fourth bidder entered the fray on the 14th bid. Two bids later and he and his partner had won the day – and the property.A small crowd packed into the courtyard of the two-bedroom townhouse as auctioneer Toby Llewellyn kept the bids moving.James BrickwoodIt is the first home for the young couple, who have been renting in Dulwich Hill. They had been searching for a new home for nine months but noticed a shift in the market following the federal government’s changes to negative gearing announced in the May budget.“[Prior to that the property market] felt like a rising tide, and you almost needed a lifeboat,” the new home owner, who did not give his name, said. “Nine months ago, [it felt like] you needed to [buy] anything. Now we have more breathing room.”After the auction was completed the vendors and buyers realised they had a connection via a netball team.Properties in well-located areas gain strong interest in the current market.James BrickwoodThe underbidders were a young couple moving from Canberra also in search of their first home. The vendors are planning to move into a larger home, perhaps in Sydney’s south.Llewellyn said there was strong interest in the first home buyer market, especially for properties in well-located areas with good connectivity and internal and external living space. “[Properties like this] are still hotly contested,” Llewellyn said. “The first home buyer market is scooping up properties like this.”The property was one of 360 scheduled to go to auction in Sydney this week.In Maroubra, a young couple won the keys to a three-bedroom home just minutes from the beach, paying $2,665,000 at auction, after first selling an apartment in a neighbouring suburb.Five groups, all young couples and families, registered to bid for the three-bedroom property at 10 Curtin Street, with four active. It had a price guide of $2.4 million and a reserve of $2.6 million.The successful bidders at the Friday evening auction were a young couple who had sold their apartment in Randwick earlier in the year. The weekend before the auction, they had inspected seven properties. The Maroubra home was one they looked at earlier in their hunt and had circled back to inspect during the week.NG Farah sales agent Eva D’Angelo said the underbidders were a young family who had been renting in the street who “fell in love with the area” and had been waiting for a property to come onto the market.Bidding for the two-storey home, which has been held by the same family for 66 years, opened when two parties raised their paddles simultaneously.One bid was $2.3 million and the other $2.4 million, with the higher offer accepted by the auctioneer. Bids went up in increments of $50,000 and $20,000, as it quickly came down to two parties.When the hammer fell, some locals who witnessed the auction approached the winning couple, welcoming them to the neighbourhood.The two-storey, light-filled home has an open plan living and dining room on the ground floor. Domain“It was really nice – it felt like what auctions used to be like,” D’Angelo said. The property was sold by two brothers on behalf of their mother, who is in aged care.In Hornsby, a vendor bid of $2.2 million kicked off the auction for a three-bedroom home offered for the first time since it was built in the 1970s.Three bidders were expected for the auction of 2 Laurel Close on Saturday morning, but one did not attend.When a bid of $1.9 million was rejected, the second bidder, who had not put in an offer, withdrew from the auction.A sales agent for Stone Real Estate, Adam Noakes, then discussed directly with the sole bidders, a local family upgrading from a two-bedroom apartment.The house, which also includes a patio and pool, was built in the 1970s and has been owned by the same family since then.DomainThe property sold under the hammer for $2.24 million. It had a price guide of $2 million and a reserve of $2.2 million.Noakes said the family were attracted by the size of the block and its position in the Hornsby North Public School catchment.Property listingsFrom our partners