Sydney Morning Herald - Latest News
· collected 2026-09-05 · by Robyn Willis
A four-bedroom home in Epping sold at auction on Saturday for $2.78 million, $380,000 over its reserve price of $2.4 million. Nineteen groups registered to bid, with 10 active bidders, driving up the price from an initial opening bid of $2 million. The successful bidder was a young couple who were attracted by the level backyard and wanted to take advantage of the market's renewed confidence after recent budget announcements and interest rate rises. Sales agent Catherine Murphy attributed the high number of registrations and sales to a shift in market sentiment, saying "people have really decided to get on with it – life goes on".
Written by the local model on 2026-09-05,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political
question, so it has no leaning score. That is an
answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly
or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it
anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political
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No political leaning scored for article 4538 · logged 2026-09-05
A four-bedroom home sold for $2.78 million in Epping on Saturday, $380,000 over the reserve.
asserted
home → sell → reserve
Nineteen groups registered to bid for the solid brick bungalow at 22 Abuklea Road, with 10 bidders active.
asserted
bidders → register → Road
Bidding opened at $2 million and went up in increments of $100,000 until it reached $2.3 million.
asserted
it → open → million
Bids of $50,000 followed, then several bids of $25,000.
asserted
Bids → follow → 25,000
When it reached $2.75 million, increments dropped to $10,000 and smaller bids until the auctioneer’s hammer fell and the property sold for $2.78 million.
asserted
property → reach → million
The property had a guide of $2.2 million and a reserve of $2.4 million.
asserted
property → have → million
There is no legal requirement for a vendor’s reserve to be in line with their property’s price guide.
asserted
reserve → be → guide
The successful bidders were a young couple with a child originally from the area who were attracted by the level backyard.
asserted
who → attract → backyard
The underbidders were a local family looking to upsize.
asserted
underbidders → look → ?
Sales agent for The Agency Epping, Catherine Murphy, said the high number of registrations reflected the wide appeal of the single-level property – which had garnered interest from downsizers, upsizers and families – as well as a shift in market confidence.
asserted
which → say → confidence
“People have really decided to get on with it – life goes on,” she said.
asserted
she → decide → it
“The shock of the budget announcements and interest rate rises has abated and people are getting on with their lives.”
asserted
people → abate → lives
The property was one of 521 scheduled to go to auction in Sydney this week, the first weekend of the spring selling market.
asserted
property → schedule → market
In Lavender Bay, a buyer upgrading their city bolthole won the keys to a two-bedroom apartment, paying $1,535,500 at auction, more than $210,000 over the reserve.
asserted
buyer → upgrade → reserve
Twelve groups registered to bid for 5/7 Waiwera Street, with five active.
asserted
five → register → Street
Bidding opened at $1 million, followed by a single bid of $200,000.
asserted
Bidding → open → 200,000
More modest increments of $20,000 and $10,000 followed until the offer reached $1.5 million when it slowed to $5000, $1000 and finally $500 bids.
asserted
it → follow → 5000
The property had a guide of $1.25 million and a reserve of $1.325 million.
asserted
property → have → million
The underbidders were a mix of locals, Queenslanders and one Australian bidder in Germany looking to upgrade.
asserted
underbidders → look → Germany
“A property like this resonates with upper north shorians because of its position down the train line,” sales agent for Raine & Horne Mosman, Adrian Bridges said.
asserted
agent → resonate → Raine
“It is proof that good properties will attract competitive bidding and the auction process is still the most transparent process for buyers and vendors.”
asserted
process → attract → buyers
