Tighes Hill knockdown sells for $1.55 million at auction

The property sold for more than $1.5 million, however, it wasn't the house that people were chasing.

Ray White Newcastle selling agent Brett Bailey said the location of the three-bedroom weatherboard home at 5 Francis Street was the real drawcard for the nine registered bidders who attended the auction.

The auction began at $1.1 million and five actively took part in the bidding before the property was sold for $1.55 million.

"The market was judging the property as a knockdown, so effectively we're talking over $1.5 million for a block of land that people will then go and put a comparable house on," Mr Bailey said.

"Virtually all of the market saw it as being a block of land rather than it being a house."

The 545 square metre property had been held by the same family for many years and Mr Bailey said it offered arguably the suburb's most coveted position on Throsby Creek.

"If you're a Throsby Creek aficionado, that's the spot," he said

"You have only got two streets there that face directly onto the creek and this is one of them."

Mr Bailey said the buyer was a resident of Tighes Hill.

"The person who bought the property lived within the suburb and has coveted that position on the water for a long time," he said.

"This was quite a rare block."

It was one of two properties in Tighes Hill that drew strong interest at auction on the weekend.

Spillane Property's auction of a three-bedroom weatherboard cottage at 58 Henry Street in Tighes Hill also had nine registered bidders.

The bidding began at $730,000 and the property was sold to a local family for $1.020 million.

The result was well above expectations, according to Spillane Property agent Patrick Skinner, who was guiding $750,000 to $850,0000 for the auction.

And like the home on Francis Street, the buyer plans to eventually knock down and rebuild a new home on the block.

Mr Skinner agreed that demand for properties on the inner-city fringe in suburbs such as Islington and Tighes Hill remained high.

"There is just no available stock on the market and now there is not a single property for sale in Tighes Hill," he said.

"These fringe suburbs are very much in demand."

Spillane Property also took a three-bedroom cottage at 17 Islington Street in Islington to auction which drew 11 registrations.

The bidding started at $725,000 and came down to two parties who bid in final increments of $500 before it sold for $891,000.

There was also strong interest at Spillane Property's auction of an entry-level two-bedroom home at 13 Notley Street in North Lambton.

Seven bidders registered at the auction which opened at $560,000 and went on to sell to a first-home buyer for $700,000.

A classic brick and tile bungalow in Hamilton South drew the week's biggest auction result.

The three-bedroom home listed with Colliers Residential Newcastle selling agent Anthony Merlo at 245 Parkway Avenue drew three registered bidders and sold under the hammer for $2.6 million.

"We had three parties bidding on the property who were all from the Newcastle area," Mr Merlo said.

"It was a really lovely quintessential bungalow home."

There were 33 auctions scheduled across Newcastle and Lake Macquarie during the week ending September 17.

According to CoreLogic's preliminary results, the region recorded a clearance rate of 69 per cent, down from 88.9 per cent the previous week.

In Carrington, a cottage at 4 Hargrave Street listed with an auction guide of $750,000 with Pat Collins at Movable sold to a couple moving into the area from the Mid-North Coast.

Two registered bidders took part in the auction of the three-bedroom, one-bathroom cottage on 214 square metres which was sold for $775,000.

"They plan to restore the home because the inside did need quite a bit of work," Mr Collins said.

There was another strong result in New Lambton at First National Newcastle City agent George Rafty's auction of a renovated three-bedroom home at 48 Errington Avenue which sold for $1.16 million.

Mavis Property Co's auction of a renovated three-bedroom terrace at 106 Bull Street in Cooks Hills had four registered bidders in the running to buy the property.

The auction opened with a bid of $1.1 million and the home sold for $1.46 million.

In Lake Macquarie, Belle Property's auction of a single-level three-bedroom home on 914 square metres at 248 The Esplanade in Speers Point sold for $1.323 million.

A dual occupancy property at 14 and 14a Church Street in Gateshead with a three-bedroom home at the front and a granny flat at the rear was sold at auction to an investor for $890,000.

More than 30 bids were placed at the auction of a three-bedroom home that required an extensive renovation at 19 Clare Street in Glendale.

Listed with Troy Duncan at First National Real Estate Lake Macquarie, the bidding started at $590,000 and the property went on to sell for $755,000.

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