Buying fever is back in Darwin

TWO Darwin properties sold above market price expectations at separate auctions amid a surge of new buyer interest at open inspections yesterday.

Real Estate Central’s Daniel Harris said the $660,000 price at 7 Croker St, Nakara, had followed a marketing campaign where bidding was expected from $560,000.

With prices firming, Mr Harris said sellers who had been sitting on the sidelines of Darwin’s dormant property market were now rushing in with new listings.

At O’Donoghues First National’s auction at 13 Cummins St, Rapid Creek, at 11am yesterday, auctioneer Jeremy O’Donoghue took more than 100 separate bids on the three-bedroom elevated classic after bidding started low at $250,000.

O’Donoghues selling agent Tim McKenzie said the owners were thrilled with the final $466,000 price – with more than 50 people filling the front lawn for the morning auction.

As the hammer fell on the Cummins St property, Real Estate Central’s Sascha Smithett was met by six groups of eager buyers who had arrived 15 minutes before the 11.30am opening time that was advertised in yesterday’s NT News.

“I had to ask the owners to leave a little earlier than they had planned, there were queues of people wanting to get in early and have a look,” Ms Smithett said.

Forty-five minutes later, 55 groups comprising more than 100 men, women and children had filed through the magnificent six-bedroom, three-bathroom home at 8 Jordan Place, Rapid Creek.

A surge of buyers also descended on Ms Smithett at 6 Kingston Place in Rapid Creek, where a four-bedroom, two-bathroom elevated home is due to go under auction tomorrow at 5.30pm.

Real Estate Central principal Braden Menzies said the 55 groups at 8 Jordan Place represented his largest attendance at a single home viewing in more than three years.

He said: “It’s a great start to the year, there is strong interest and we are seeing sellers achieving good results.”

Elsewhere, Mr O’Donoghue also sold 4 Parsons St in Fannie Bay, on 1280 sqm of land, for an undisclosed price above the $700,000 mark at a Valentine’s Day auction on Friday.

North Property’s Kerri-Ann Laurence also sold two homes in their first week of listing – with an enormous two-bedroom unit with its own pool at 65/5 Michie Court, Bayview, snapped up within hours of its first advertised open inspection.

Ms Laurence said: “This is an indication that the market is moving and we are seeing buyers looking very closely at all of the available stock and jumping in where they see value.”