A narrow driveway has sold under the hammer for the price of many Australian homes, in the latest indication of the extremes in Sydney’s property market.
A developer bought the Newtown driveway for $1.25 million at auction on Saturday.
The 110m² site, approximately 4m wide, located at 184 Church St, was listed R1, allowing for mixed density.
The advert described the inner west site as a “ready to build block in the heart of Newtown” and “ready for development”.
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Ramp 184 Church Street, Newtown sold for $1.25 million
The property was offered with a list price of $1 million and a reserve of $1.1 million, with the auction netting four registered bidders, three of which were active.
Listing agent Chris Akkawi of Adrian William Real Estate said the land value was valued at $1 million by the government. Buyers were attracted by the construction potential, he said.
“The company that bought it is a developer, they are going to develop on it,” he said.
“I don’t know what they are going to develop, it will more than likely be something residential.
“There is student housing being built next door, I don’t know if they will try to incorporate that into their construction or if it will be a house.
“I think it’s something they’ll stick with.”
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The street placement of the 110 m² plot
Aerial view of the property
Mr Akkawi said the seller was an elderly woman who lives a few doors from the site and bought the plot about 40 years ago to use it as a car park.
“She’s had it as a driveway and she’s had it since the ’80s,” he said.
“She just used it as a parking lot, somewhere she can water plants, grow some vegetables and now it will basically be money that she will use for her retirement.”
A social media post about the sale on Instagram, made by The Noticer, drew many sharp reactions to the sale.
One user wrote: “Just stop eating broken avocado guys so you too can afford a ramp like this!” while another wrote: “Just the driveway? Madness”.
“If you work hard enough, one day you can afford a million dollar driveway,” said another user.
Another comment was “LOL Australia is cooked” and another: “WTF bro”.
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5 Sparkes Lane, Camperdown targets $1.295 million
Aerial photo of the 111 m² plot
A similar property, also inland, is for sale at 5 Sparks Lane, Camperdown.
The vacant block is listed as a land development on a plot of 111 sqm.
The DA approved property list describes it as zoned MU1 – Mixed Use and allows a combination of residential and commercial/retail land uses STCA.
It is currently for sale for $1.295 million.
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