First home buyer whose dad bid on her behalf wins $2.3m Surry Hills home
A first home buyer won a stylish two-bedroom Surry Hills terrace at auction this weekend, paying $103,000 more than sellers paid a year ago.
Two-storey house with stylish contemporary renovation 53 Marshall Street While it sold under the hammer for $2.31 million, it traded for $2,207,000 in June 2025.
The property was one of 812 auctions scheduled in Sydney last week. As of Saturday evening, Domain Group recorded a pre-auction approval rate of 49 percent from 445 results reported, while 178 auctions had been withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the liquidation rate.
This compares with last week’s preliminary result of 47 percent; overall comparable to the lowest levels during the quarantine period.
Five parties from the Sydney area have registered for the Surry Hills auction, including an investor from Bellevue Hill.
Bidding opened at $1.85 million, $50,000 below the $1.9 million guide.
Four parties competed. Initially small increments of $10,000 started the war, then increases increased to $25,000 and $50,000 increments as more buyers joined.
The terrace sold for $210,000, above its $2.1 million reserve. The keys were secured for $2.31 million by a young first home buyer whose father bid on his behalf. He was renting a house in Paddington. Sellers are switching to Balmain.
There is no legal requirement for a seller’s reserve to match the property’s price guide.
Selling agent Cadan Hickey, of Ray White Touma Taylor, said: “In this market right now… if you look at any home that has sold from 2021 to date… the majority of those homes are selling at a loss.
“We were expecting the same on this one, so considering what’s going on locally, the fact that they’ve made money is actually quite an accomplishment.”
In Maroubra, a three-bedroom apartment with a locked garage priced at $850,000 attracted 14 registered bidders, including two investors who did not participate.
Five parties were active; many were first-home buyer couples vying for the unit. 3/261-263 Bunnerong Road.
Bidding opened at $800,000 and reached a reserve of $850,000 in three bids. The contest then continued in increments of $20,000, $50,000, $10,000 and $5000.
It sold for $1,075,000 to a downsizer who sold his suburban properties but wanted to stay local.
“There was no interruption when the bidding started. It just flowed all the way to the end,” said sales representative Paul Spanoudakis of Raine & Horne Maroubra.
“There are people out there looking to buy and I think this was a property that really appealed to first home buyers from young couples.”
He added that investors were not as strong as they were before the government’s changes to tax regulations, which gave young people the opportunity to enter the market.
The deceased property was last traded in 1993 for $191,000, records show.
A two-bedroom flat with ocean views in Cronulla sold for $1.67 million.
The unit is at 12/18-20 Arthur Avenue It overlooked the Esplanade and had a panoramic ocean view from the open-plan living room.
Four parties were registered and four were active, consisting of downsizers, an investor, and a young couple.
The tender was opened with a guide of 1.5 million dollars and reached the reserve of 1.55 million dollars in a short time. Bids climbed in increments ranging from $50,000 to $1,000 until it sold to a shrink from Shire for $1.67 million.
Selling agent Mitch Kenyon, of McGrath Cronulla, said: “It’s on the Esplanade in Cronulla, in a respectable building that people know and in a cul-de-sac.”
“From my perspective, there are still investors looking to buy things. It looks like the ‘smart money’ is buying now.”
Sellers moved into elder care.
The apartment last traded for $369,500 in 1998, records show.
Ray White’s chief economist Nerida Conisbee said Domain’s 49 per cent clearance rate for Sydney was a “slight increase” on last week’s 47 per cent and appeared to have stabilized, saying “this is better than further decline”.
He added there was still a lot of uncertainty about what would happen to pricing in Sydney.
“The outlook right now is probably one of stability rather than increase,” he said.
“Auction markets tend to be more owner-occupied, so it may not show the impact of that on the investor market, but overall I think the market is still remaining very, very weak and … not showing any signs of an uptick.”
