The strength of the early spring market has been a bonanza for sellers across most of the capital cities.

At 85 per cent, Sydney had its highest clearance rate since June last year, the height of the then-boom, according to Domain. 

Saturday’s result in Melbourne was the highest for two months.

Sydney has now recorded five weekends out of the past six with clearance rates at or above 80 per cent. 

The shortage of auction listings is contributing to higher clearance rates, with Domain calculating September offerings in Sydney down by around 30 per cent on the same month last year and down by 20 per cent in Melbourne. 

The weekend’s top auction result was an eight-bedroom, English-style Strathfield, NSW mansion which fetched a record $7.3 million.

Five of the 12 registered bidders bid to own the home at 2 Llandilo Avenue which last sold for $1.03 million in 1988.

The sale eclipsed a nearby seven-bedroom home which sold for $6.825 million in May.

The home on the estate’s 2665 sq m holding had been custom-built with 2500 tonnes of sandstone from Darling Harbour.

The buyers were an upsizing local family.

The Strathfield home has an outdoor pavilion overlooking the pool and expansive sandstone terrace. Photo: Strathfield Partners

The house has eight bedrooms and six bathrooms – and a pool room. Photo: Strathfield Partners

Plenty of room for entertaining. Photo: Strathfield Partners

It features a marble staircase, soaring high ceilings and timber parquetry floors. Photo: Strathfield Partners

Sydney also saw the $7.25 million sale of Taiping, a five-bedroom Sydney Harbour beachfront home at 3 Lower Wycombe Road, Neutral Bay, sold by McGrath Neutral Bay for $7.25 million.

Taiping has mesmerising harbourside views. Photo: McGrath

Melbourne’s top sale was a six-bedroom art deco 1930s Armadale home renovated in 1999 by Toorak architect Anthea Bickford.

It sold at $5,525,000 against its $4.5 million-plus price guidance.

The 1500 sq m Dandenong Road holding, between Orrong and Kooyong Roads, was once owned by the well-connected ragtrading entrepreneur Saul Same of Gloweave fame until its $797,000 sale in 1999 after four decades of ownership. 

It last sold at $1.94 million in 2002 to radiologist Associate Professor Richard O’Sullivan.

There was a $5 million reserve with three bidders participating in the auction.

This Armadale property was Melbourne’s most expensive auction of the week, selling for $5,525,000. Photo: Marshall White

Preserved period features include trademark staircase, wrought iron entry, bay and sash windows, window seats, soaring ceilings and polished timber floors. Photo: Marshall White

Family room and kitchen. Photo: Marshall White

Eloc, the weekend property offering at 50-52 Bay Street, Brighton fetched $4,925,000 post-auction.

The Buxton agency price guidance had been $4.7 million-plus for the 1874 home with extensions on its 1760 sq m block.

There were just the two bidders before it was passed in at $4,710,000.

Eloc is one of Brighton’s finest estates. Photo: Marshall White

The national capital city clearance rate rose this week, from 75 per cent last week to close to 78 per cent. This time one year ago, close to 70 per cent of capital city auctions found buyers under the hammer.

There were 2093 capital city auctions held over the week, similar to the 2062 last week, but lower than one year ago, when the spring market had over 2500 auctions across the combined capitals.

“This week last year represented the seventh consecutive week of capital city auction volumes being over the 2000 mark, while over the past seven weeks, only three weeks have seen more than 2000 auctions across the capitals,” CoreLogic spokesperson Kevin Brogan noted.

This week there were 956 auctions held in Melbourne, down from 974 last week and lower than last year, when 1127 Melbourne homes were taken under the hammer.

Preliminary results indicate that Melbourne’s clearance rate was steady at around 78 per cent this week, while one year ago, 73 per cent of Melbourne auctions cleared.

One of the high-profile sellers was North Melbourne forward Jarrad Waite who sold his Moonee Ponds home for $1.48 million at weekend auction.

The Edwardian cottage was expected to fetch $1.15 million-plus but went $200,000 over reserve given four bidders battled it out for the three-bedroom home.

The Addison Street sold through Charles Bongiovanni of Alexkarbon, North Melbourne.

Waite will be moving to a nearby larger home at Strathmore with his wife Jackie and their baby son.

Waite and his wife had refurbished their double-fronted period home since purchasing in 2008 for $764,500, but have not altered its floorplan.

It sold to an Ascot Vale family, according to the Herald Sun. One of the bidders that missed out did not go home empty-handed, instead taking home a signed Sherrin for kicking off the bidding at $1.305 million, which was $5000 above reserve.

Jarrad Waite’s Moonee Ponds home sold for almost $200k over the reserve. Photo: Alexkarbon Real Estate

The light-filled kitchen. Photo: Alexkarbon Real Estate

CoreLogic had Sydney notching up an 85 per cent success rate, based on preliminary results.

Some 773 Sydney auctions were held this week, remaining relatively steady when compared to last week (758) and the week prior (757), however well below the number held over the corresponding week last year (1041).

There were 139 Brisbane homes taken to auction, relatively steady when compared to both last week (148) and one year ago (143). Brisbane’s clearance rate rose to 55 per cent, from 44 per cent the previous week, while one year ago, half of all auctions reported were sold.

Brisbane had the nation’s cheapest auction result when a three-bedroom house sold on Macleay Island for $195,000.

The home on the Morton Bay island had last sold at $250,000 in 2006 and at $198,000 in 2003.

This was Australia’s cheapest auction at the weekend. Photo: Raine & Horne

In Adelaide, the preliminary clearance rate was 76 per cent this week, having risen from 68 per cent last week. The number of homes taken to auction was 96, compared to 88 last week and 99 one year ago, when 71 per cent were successful.

There were 83 auctions held in Canberra and the preliminary clearance rate was 70 per cent, up from one year ago when it was 58 per cent.

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