Tuesday’s interest rate rise to a 15-year high might have come as a blow for first home buyers and those who bought at the top of their budget, but there are still plenty of people out there looking to secure their slice of the Australian Dream.
OC Real Estate agent Joanna Manolakos said the successful auction of a property she was selling at 5 Chapel St, Plympton – a day after the RBA increased the official cash rate – proved buyers weren’t deterred by rate hikes.
At least at some price points.
The property – which is zoned urban corridor and as such enables, council permitting, builds of up to eight storeys – sold under the hammer for $2.6m.
“Obviously with this one the appeal was that land size of 1518sqm and the zoning was urban corridor which is amazing to get in the backstreets,” Ms Manolakos said.
“You can understand that on Anzac Hwy, but it’s really quite rare when you have it in a side street, so we always knew it was going to be really popular.
“It wasn’t so much the mum and dad developers.
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1280 720"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
5 Chapel St, Plympton. Supplied
The home’s character features – soon to be gone. Supplied
Soon his will likely be townhouses. Supplied
The home’s basic kitchen. Supplied
“Where I found most of the interest coming from was from your building companies, because they’re the ones that need to keep their doors open and keep everything moving.
“And we weren’t quite sure with this one how far they could push it, because they wouldn’t have been able to go that high it’s in the backstreets.
“So then they thought, okay, how many townhouses can get on it?
“And the feedback I was getting was anywhere between eight and 12.
“Of course, no council is going to give say you can get X amount before you buy it anyway. “But the people I was dealing with were experts – they knew what they could do on it.
“So it was mainly those bigger companies wanting to build for the first time buyers market.”
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While she would not comment on who purchased the property, Ms Manolakos said the property would eventually give South Australians the chance to get onto the property ladder.
“It’ll more or less cater to the first homebuyer market where up to $900,000 you don’t have to pay stamp duty – so they’re catering it to that market,” she said.
Ms Manolakos said while an eight-storey structure in that location would be unlikely due to overshadowing, the scale of the builders vying for the site meant its potential would be maximised.
“Obviously it’s a multiple dwelling site, so they’re able to push it to the limits,” she said.
The property attracted 14 registrations, with five bidding on the day.
“It was a public trustee sale so I don’t want to say how far over reserve it went, but it definitely exceeded our expectations,” Ms Manolakos said.
Part of the spacious yard. Supplied
Another section of the unused rear yard. Supplied
The home’s elegant facade. Supplied
Ms Manolakos said that end of the market was unfazed by interest rate rises, with the realestate.com.au listing description now carrying the wording: “13 buyers missed out & looking for blocks to subdivide – call Joanna 0411136746 if you can help.”
“Your first home buyers where their borrowing capacity changes – that’s who this rate rise is going to affect,” she said.
“Your second home buyers, I still don’t think it is going to effect them because they know they’re going to sell a property and they’re going to make money.
“So it’s more your first home buyers that it’s going to impact.
“But even then, there’s still a lot of interest at the affordable level.
“I’ve got a little place at 37 Chambers Avenue, Richmond for $695,000 to $760,000 – it needs work and about $80,000 spent on it, but it’s Torren’s Title, and I had 41 groups through last Saturday at its first open.
“So it’s not all doom and gloom, people are still looking.”
