Rundown and derelict properties are becoming a hot ticket item in Sydney with buyers paying as much as $1.3 million for a ‘renovator’s dream’.

According to the Daily Telegraph, crumbling ceilings, smashed windows and dilapidated floors are no barrier for canny investors, with some houses attracting better prices than newly renovated homes.

Ray White chief auctioneer Scott Smith said there were about “50 per cent more buyers” on properties that desperately needed fixing.

Mr Smith recently sold a derelict Surry Hills terrace for $1.36 million, more than $100,000 above reserve.

“There’s actually less competition in that market,” he told the paper.

“But everyone likes the idea of buying a dump and doing it up themselves.”

People are opting for this over renovated properties. Photo: Raine & Horne

Meanwhile, Sydney’s weekend auction success rate surged back above 80 per cent.

There were around 494 weekend auctions held in the NSW capital, up slightly from 473 last week, but significantly lower than the 825 a year ago.

The preliminary CoreLogic result of 80 per cent represented the strongest clearance rate for the city so far this year – a steep increase from 71 per cent last week and also higher than last year’s clearance rate of 76 per cent when the mid-year market was coming off the boil.

The result helped to push the combined national capitals results above 70 per cent again, up from last week’s 68 per cent to 74 per cent.

There was an increased level of activity across the capital city market with 1,585 auctions.

Melbourne’s clearance rate also jumped to 75 per cent this weekend up from 71 per cent. 

The top and cheapest sales around the nation were in Melbourne.

A Malvern period house with modern extension sold through Marshall White at $4.98 million.

There were five $4 million-plus bidders for the five-bedroom Edwardian house at 17 McKinley Avenue, which was announced on the market at $4.4 million. The home’s extension was designed by architect Geoff Challis with its landscaping by Rick Eckersley.

Photo: Marshall White

Photo: Marshall White

Andrew Hayne of Marshall White, said a couple moving back to Australia from the US were the buyers.

Northcote’s house price record was on the brink of being broken as agents endeavoured to negotiate the sale of the suburb’s grandest residence, Lugano.

The post-auction negotiations took buying interest up to $3.95 million, but it is yet to sell, though easily surpassing the highest price achieved by a house in Northcote, which CoreLogic records show was $3.15 million, fetched by an 1881 mansion last October.

A four-bedroom 1912 home, Lugano was offered by Don Taig, who restored it after purchasing it in 1990.

The weekend’s cheapest auction result was a two-bedroom unit at Melbourne’s Albion, near Sunshine.

Photo: Burnham Real Estate

Photo: Burnham Real Estate

The 5/25 Ridley Street unit fetched $190,000 when sold by Burnham Deer Park. It last sold for $10,500 in 1975.

Sydney’s top sale was $3.21 million at Blakehurst where a five-bedroom house at 38 Walton Street was offered with redevelopment potential.

Photo: Ramsey Property

Photo: Ramsey Property

A six-bedroom house at Ascot in Brisbane fetched $3 million when 47 Palm Avenue sold, a 1993 Queenslander designed by architect Kevin Hayes.

Photo: Ray White

Photo: Ray White

Photo: Ray White

Up to 200 people flocked to an outback Queensland town when much of the main street went to auction without a reserve price, grossing $156,000 on Saturday.

The deceased estate in the south-central Queensland town of Yelarbon saw about three quarters of the town sold.

The three auction offerings included shops on the town’s main street.

“Out of the five shops currently Australia Post is the only remaining tenant and are happy to stay on as long as the new owner would like,” True Country Realty selling agent Jodi Bynon said.

He said there had never had so much attention on Yelarbon, which is more than 300 kilometres south-west of Brisbane on the NSW border.

Photo: True Country Realty

The three auctions attracted 60 registered bidders and sold to three different buyers.

The first auction of five shops sold for $60,000; the two freestanding shops sold for $26,000; and the house sold for $70,000.

“The number of people who came to the town was about half of the population here,” he said.

Adelaide was host to 106 auctions this week, with a preliminary clearance rate of 71 per cent, Perth had 33 auctions and there were 44 in Canberra at a 75 per cent clearance.

The weekend also saw Chinese property developer Greenland test the Sydney off-the-plan market.

It secured the sale of around 100 apartments in its new Lachlan’s Line precinct in Sydney’s north-west.

The mixed-use development, nbh at Lachlan’s Line, will consist of 900 apartments across six towers at Macquarie Park which is set to become Sydney’s fourth CBD with a wave of new development currently underway.

Jonathan Chancellor is editor-at-large at Property Observer.