Haberfield motel site sells after 463 bids in epic 1.5-hour auction
A former motel site in the inner-west Sydney suburb of Haberfield has sold for $13,003,000 after an epic 1.5-hour battle that some seasoned auctioneers say is the longest auction they’ve heard of.
The site at 169-173 Parramatta Road, Haberfield, owned by the Presbyterian Church and operating most recently as an aged care facility, was purchased by two Australian-based private investors who plan to return it to use as a motel.
Listing agent Tim Morrison of Ray White Commercial Inner West said it was the longest auction sale he has ever managed.
He said there was “a lot of interest” in the property over the sales campaign, with “six or seven” bidders on the day.
The site has street frontage to Parramatta Road. Photo: Supplied
Bidding started at $8 million, with Ray White auctioneer Jason Andrew taking bids from $1000 up to $50,000.
“There were people bidding $50,000 bids, and then straight after someone would bid $1000,” Mr Morrison said.
Head of Cooley Auctions, Damien Cooley, who auctioned several other Ray White properties on the day, said it was “the longest auction I’ve heard of”.
He witnessed sections of the mammoth auction and said the length of time it took was due to the strategy of the bidders and their insistence on small bids.
“The bidders were very adamant on how they intended on bidding, both buyers had a clear strategy,” he said, adding that the irony was, had one of the buyers become “frustrated” and decided to bid big, they could have ended up paying less.
To put the sale in perspective, Cooley Auctions had an average time of eight to 10 minutes for an on-site auction, and seven minutes in their auction rooms.
Another experienced commercial auctioneer, Jesse Davidson, of Auctionworks, said that his firm typically got through six auctions an hour, and up to eight, in their auction rooms.
“I’ve seen them go on for 40 minutes or so, but an hour and a half is a long time,” he said.
The church had decided to sell the building because “it became surplus their requirements”, Mr Morrison said.
The future of the facility was under question in recent years, following speculation that it would be demolished to make way for the state government’s WestConnex project before being later ruled out.
The Church did not wish to disclose the reserve price for the building, but Mr Morrison said that “everyone was happy” with the final result, and that the new owners would refurbish the building as a motel on the 2000-square-metre site.
“It’s a very solid building,” he said.
The previous motel had 65 rooms.
Mr Morrison said the site’s location on Parramatta Road and its B6 Enterprise Corridor zoning had ruled out residential use.
It last traded for $4,235,000 in 2002 when it was sold by Transmetro Corporation Ltd, according to PriceFinder data.
