Sydney house that last sold for 850 pounds in 1957 is now worth an eye-watering $2.64million

A house that last sold more than 60 years ago in Sydney’s inner west has sold for 160 times its last sale price.

The three-bedroom home at 30 Cecily Street, Lilyfield, went up for auction on Saturday with a price indication of $2.4 million, which had already increased from $2.2 million based on buyer feedback.

Eight bidders, a mix of developers and families, placed bids for the modest 323-square-foot lot that last sold in 1957 for £850, which is about $16,000 today.

A mix of developers and families registered to bid on the 323 square meter block.

After an initially slow bidding process, the house eventually sold for $2.64 million.

The local buyer plans to tear down and build their dream home.

The selling agent, David Carrozza of Cobden and Hayson, said the auction price was a great result for the property owners.

“It’s a very strong result, the reserve was well below that,” said Mr. Carrozza Domain.

“(The result was) based on strong competition and lack of inventory, there just aren’t many of them on the market.

“I don’t feel like we’re going to have an influx of properties (in the near future).”

According to the property’s listing, the “warm and inviting home” had been owned by the same family for three generations.

“It offers plenty of opportunities to modernize the current home, or to start over and create a fantastic family retreat that embraces both the lifestyle and the location,” the ad read.

“All the elements are in place to really add value and take advantage of such an impressive lot in a desirable Lilyfield neighborhood.”

The property’s mind-boggling profit margin is at odds with current trends of Australians selling homes at a loss on average just two years after purchase.

New data from CoreLogic showed that the share of loss-making sales, two years after the purchase, rose to 12 percent in the March quarter, compared to just 3.4 percent in early 2022, when the Reserve Bank rate was still at 0.1 percent stood.

Eliza Owen, head of housing research at CoreLogic, said this showed that those who bought a home shortly before the rate hikes were now selling at a loss to avoid higher monthly mortgage payments.

“An unusual trend that we saw this quarter that we haven’t seen in previous quarters was short-term resale gains at a loss,” she told Daily Mail Australia.

“There may be some motivation in the selling because people are anticipating problems with mortgage payments – maybe they aren’t there yet, as the official data again shows no substantial increase in arrears – but it could be something they are anticipating.”