August 30, 2026 — 4:20pmAn upsizing local family paid $2,625,000 for a grand Stanmore house at auction on Saturday, beating two other bidders who were both builders.The four-bedroom house at 135 Albany Road was built in circa 1894 in a late Victorian Italianate style and came with period features such as decorative ceilings and fireplaces and leadlight details.The property was one of 726 scheduled to go to auction in Sydney last week. By Saturday evening, Domain recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 57 per cent from 425 reported results throughout the week, while 131 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.The early read is just higher than last week’s preliminary result of 54 per cent, albeit it is likely to be revised lower as more results are collected. Any result below 60 per cent shows prices are likely to keep falling.The Stanmore house was a deceased estate on offer for the first time in 70 years, with a price guide of $2.3 million to $2.5 million, and attracted three registered bidders at auction.Bidding opened at $2 million and rose in increments of $50,000 at first, then slowed around $2.4 million. It surpassed the reserve of $2.55 million by $75,000.There is no legal requirement for a vendor’s reserve to be in line with their property’s price guide.Belle Property Glebe selling agent Mark Tooth said the family who bought the home will do a renovation. He described it as an “iconic house”.“Amazing house, it has only had two owners in the last 100 years, it was a real time capsule,” he said.Speaking about the market broadly, he felt there were more homes for sale privately now than via auction, but said buyers and sellers still needed to go ahead and decisions such as if they received an inheritance or in cases of family separation.“Everything sells a) if you have interest and b) if the price is right,” he said.In Ultimo, a couple bought a two-bedroom apartment for its reserve price of $840,000 in post-auction negotiations.The home at 23/23-33 Macarthur Street came with a covered al fresco terrace, a breakfast bar in the kitchen and an internal laundry. It had a price guide of $830,000.Two parties registered and one made an opening bid of $800,000. But with no further bids forthcoming, the property was passed in and negotiations commenced with the two potential buyers.A couple moving from a smaller unit in Croydon bought the Ultimo home post-auction and will move to a larger unit in a more desired location, Rich & Oliva selling agent Marco Errichiello said.He said the buyers felt they had bought the home for a good price. Another two-bedroom unit in the same block sold in July last year for $910,000, records show.He said the underbidder was a young woman and the vendor was the Presbyterian Church.“I feel the market has improved over the last four weeks, not so much with sale results but with activity from buyers,” he said.“There is a good saving in property of about 15 per cent so that motivates them enough to go and buy. They are very slow in their bidding and very methodical.”In North Ryde, a family upsizing from an apartment paid $2.25 million under the hammer for a brick house with scope to add their own stamp.The three-bedroom home at 63 Numa Road, a deceased estate, had been listed with a price guide of $2.4 million and drew three registered bidders.Two parties participated, and the family began proceedings with an offer of $2 million.They bid against themselves at first, until $2.15 million when a developer entered the fray.After a few rounds of small bids such as $5000, the family offered a bold $50,000 bid and knocked the developer out of the race. The vendors had a reserve originally of around $2.4 million, adjusted on the day to $2.25 million to sell.Ray White (Riverside) selling agent Nicolas Schreiber said the winners had been looking for close to six months and had missed out on other homes to developers. He thought they were likely to make some updates and move in, and could do a knockdown-rebuild in a few years.The same house may have fetched about $2.5 million to $2.6 million a few months ago, he said.He said many homes had been selling before or after auction lately rather than under the hammer.“Just seeing some competition at auction was really good,” he said. “It was one of the first auctions we have had in a long time that had two bidders that registered and bid.“If the properties are in a good location, good blocks … they are not at the same price point as a few months ago but are still competitive.”Property listingsFrom our partners