THE sale of a luxury home in Floraville has smashed the suburb record by almost $1 million.
The five-bedroom, four-bathroom residence at 4 Castle Drive sold under the hammer for a record-breaking $2.85 million at auction on Sunday with Spillane Property selling agents Donna Spillane and Patrick Skinner.
It topped Floraville's previous residential sale record set in November for an ultra-modern home at 7 Maria Court that sold for $1.95 million.
"Throughout the five-week campaign the main comment people made when they walked through the property was, 'This place is special'," Mr Skinner said.
"We had a huge amount of enquiry from buyers all over, including Perth, South Australia, lots of people from Melbourne and Queensland, as well as a lot of people from the country who wanted that Newcastle lifestyle five minutes to Redhead Beach but still on a nice big block of land."
The agent said around 40 onlookers turned out to watch the auction unfold as five registered bidders took part in competitive bidding which ended with the surprising record result.
We spoke with Mr Skinner about the auction and the result:
The property: A two-level house set on 3962 square metres. Built in 2007, the property was extensively renovated throughout by the sellers. It offered five bedrooms, four bathrooms and a resort-style alfresco area with a swimming pool, a pool house and a jacuzzi, as well as elevated bushland and ocean views.
The result: The property sold under the hammer for $2.85 million.
What made this property special? From the moment people walked in, they were amazed by the view. This is one of the biggest blocks in Floraville and probably one of the biggest to come on the market in the suburb in a number of years. With that view, position-wise, it would have to be the best block on the street because you have panoramic views of the whole of the coastline. All of the houses on that street get more of a narrower field of view, whereas this one actually has that panorama. In the pool area, the owners made the windows in the pool house extra high so that even from the half level up inside the house you could still see the ocean through them. There were so many factors that the owners took care of to make sure it was that perfect finished product.
How many registered bidders? We had five registered bidders.
Where were the potential buyers from? Three were local and two were from out of town. The underbidder was from outside of Newcastle. It was sold to a local family looking for a bigger block and an upmarket home as well.
How did the auction unfold? There was an opening bid of $2.1 million. It went up in increments of $50,000 and $100,000 the whole way through. It was mostly between two parties but a third party came into the mix and we went up from $2.1 million to $2.2 million, so $100,000 rises up until $2.7 million and then it went up in $50,000 rises from there. There were 10 bids in total. It was very competitive and the result was very surprising as well. The underbidder was actually coming back quite strongly each time they were outbid. They were coming back with another $150,000 quite confidently. Both parties at the end went significantly over what they were planning on spending. They were both planning to spend around the mid $2 million range, so the fact it went for $2.85 million is a testament to that auction process.
Was the result a surprise? We were very happy with the result as were the owners. We were very surprised. Even all of the neighbors who came along to watch the auction, I don't think any of them predicted that price.
- Readers can now subscribe to Australian Community Media's free weekly Newcastle Herald property newsletter.
The newsletter will keep you informed about what's currently making headlines in the region's real estate market and beyond.
To sign up, click here, scroll down, enter your details, click the 'property' box and then click 'subscribe'.
