The 1980s home sold for $1.6 million, setting a record for Florey in April 2021. Photo: Supplied.
A huge family home in Florey has sold at auction for $1.6 million, setting a record for the Belconnen suburb.
The recently renovated six-bedroom, three-bathroom brick home at 8 Cooksey Place in Florey was built in the 1980s, with the owners raising their family and enjoying the property for many years.
It’s been snapped up by another family moving to Canberra from interstate.
Selling agent Kaylene King from LJ Hooker Canberra City says the sprawling home on a large 1208 square metre block attracted immense interest from buyers seeking a big home with plenty of yard space just 15 minutes from the city.
While she and the owners expected a good outcome, Ms King said the final result was up there with inner-suburb prices.
“To achieve $1.6 million was totally unexpected,” she said.
“The price achieved is one more expected in the inner suburbs, not so much in Belconnen.”
Ms King said when she first met with the owners, they had light-heartedly said how wonderful it might be to sell for around $1.2 million, matching the recently set suburb record.
“The best-case scenario was that we would get to about the $1.25 million region,” she added.
“To go beyond that and set a new record for Florey is just mind-blowing and came completely from left field.”
Ms King said the large block and enormous home offered potential to families and business people wanting to work from home.
“The property offered so much potential. We had about 129 groups through in the four weeks ahead of the auction,” she said.
“Many groups came back, two, three, four or five times because they were looking for their forever family home.”
With 16 registered bidders at the auction, the opening bid started at $1 million and got to $1.2 million “pretty quickly”, according to Ms King.
Four bidders were still in the mix at $1.4 million and the last two bidders, one from interstate and one Canberra local, took the price way above expectations.
“For anyone in the room, the final price for a Belconnen suburb was very unexpected,” Ms King said.
The home was fresh and bright, with large open spaces. A recent make-over included a new ensuite, downstairs bathroom and kitchen, as well as new timber flooring in the living areas.
Ms Kings said, while the home was around 40 years old, it has been “maintained within an inch of its life”.
She said to find an older home on a big block ready to move straight into was a rare find.
“Some people are looking to well-established suburbs like Florey for larger blocks, rather than buying a brand new home with all the bells and whistle in the outer suburbs on a small block,” Ms King said.
She said the Belconnen area offered a selection of good schools, from pre-school to university and was a “nice little community” to raise a family.
The Florey record is just one in a string of records being broken all over Canberra as the market continues to exceed expectations.
“Anything on a block of land at the moment is going nuts,” Ms King said.
“We’re seeing records broken constantly.
“Pretty much every auction is going beyond the buyer and owners’ expectations.”
She said frustrated buyers were continuing to temp sellers with pre-auction offers.
“Lots of people are feeling frustrated after missing out time after time,” she said.
“One of the first things people ask as soon as a property is advertised is ‘will the seller consider pre-auction offers?’
“There’s a sense of urgency out there as people want to get off the treadmill of going to open homes, going to auctions and missing out. It’s a real emotional roller coaster.”
A three-bedroom home at 5 Lewin Street in Lyneham also sold at auction for an impressive $1.47 million.
The inner-north classic was sold by Andrew Browne and Ryan Hedley from LJ Hooker Dickson.
Check out more listings at the LJ Hooker Auction Showcase here.
LJ Hooker agents Kaylene King (left) and Jenna Dunley are blown away by the recent auction results across Canberra. Photo: Thomas Lucraft.
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