Studio apartments and knockdowns popular at weekend auctions

Ipswich, the urban district south west of Brisbane, provided the nation's cheapest weekend buying opportunity.

It was a $155,000 sale of a three bedroom house on 1047 sqm (above).

But it was only for the brave renovator or buyer prepared to start from scratch after its demolition.

Buyers who could "look past first impressions" and "know value when they see it" were encouraged to inspect, LJH agent Nick Ryan suggested.

The sale price represented a loss as it had last traded at $172,500 in 2006.

Its price was just above its $139,000 official land value. 

Meanwhile the national auction clearance rate edged up to 69.1 per cent across the capital cities as auction activity ramped up this week.

CoreLogic calculated some 1,963 homes were taken to auction, increasing from the 1,490 auctions held the prior week when 63.7 per cent of offerings found buyers under the hammer.

"Volumes are increasing at a slower pace," CoreLogic auction analyst Kevin Brogan said, noting on the same weekend last February there had been 2,291 offerings.

Sydney’s success rate soared back into the 70s with a 74.3 per cent clearance rate. 

"It was well above the trend over the final quarter of 2017 where auction clearance rates were tracking in the low 50 per cent range," Brogan said.

But it was on subdued volume as the 718 offerings was down on the 856 at the same time last year.

Sydney had the nation's top sale when $5,390,000 was paid in Strathfield for 12 Elwin Street. Devine selling agent Greg Emerton said it had been in the same family for 48 years. It was a solid two storey double five bedroom brick home on 1347 sqm.

A six-bedroom Hunters Hill home of health cookbook author Martyna Angell and her husband Matthew Candrick was another pricey Sydney sale (below).

It fetched $3.685 million after the architect-designed Park Road home was called on the market at $3.65 million.

Redesigned by Mark Armstrong in 2008, the home had previously traded at $2.22 million in 2013.

Sydney's cheapest result was an eastern suburbs studio apartment, for the second consecutive week.

The 28 square metre studio apartment at 7E/105 Cook Rd, Centennial Park fetched $390,000 pre-auction (below).

"It was an undercapitalised property easily accessible to Bondi Junction and the CBD," selling agent Felice Cotroneo said. 

There had been a $506,000 at 11/339 Oxford Street on the prior weekend for a 21 square metre offering.

Melbourne's cheapest sale was also a studio apartment which sold at $230,000.

The 22/131 Glen Huntly Rd, Elwood offering had been tipped to fetch between $220,000 to $240,000.

Melbourne, where 923 properties went to auction, up from 619 on the prior weekend, recorded a steady 70.7 per cent preliminary clearance rate. 

"This was the first week in some time where Sydney has outperformed Melbourne," Kevin Brogan noted.

Melbourne's top sale was a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house at 32A St Georges Road, Toorak that sold for its reserve price of $3.2 million.

It had been marketed as having a $2.9 million to $3.19 million price guidance.

There were two bidders with an Australian investor living offshore securing the offering against bidding from a locally based Chinese family, Domain advised.

It was a 1930s Geoffrey Sommers designed residence with more recent renovations by Nicholas Day.

A knockdown four bedroom weatherboard home on a 436 sqm block in South Yarra fetched $3.03 million.

It had been tipped to fetch between $2.4 million and $2.6 million.

Adelaide recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 67.3 per cent. Prices ranged from $265,000 in Morphett Vale to $1,316,999 at Rose Park.

The 16 Grant Av, Rose Park result was well above the $1.1 million expectations for the four bedroom 1900 sandstone offering.