A RENOVATED home in Highfields was hotly contested at auction on the weekend.
The four-bedroom, two-bathroom property at 31 Hillcrest Road set a suburb record when sold under the hammer for $1.53 million on Saturday.
It topped the previous record price for the sale of a residential property in Highfields set in July 2021 when a four-bedroom home on 2295 square metres sold for $1.5 million.
By comparison, the property at 31 Hillcrest Road occupied a much larger block size of 594 square metres.
Selling agent Olivia Sasse from McGrath Lake Macquarie anticipated a strong result given the high level of interest in the property during the four-week auction campaign.
"We had 113 people through the open house inspections and multiple pre-auction offers," Ms Sasse said.
Six bidders registered at the auction, including five from Newcastle and one recently relocated from Sydney.
All six were active in the bidding which commenced at $1.4 million and rose in increments of $10,000 and $20,000 across 15 bids before it sold under the hammer for $1.53 million.
"It was a great result," the agent said.
"There were a lot of families bidding on it because the school zones were a big positive.
"It was an older home renovated quite tastefully but it was the level of finishes that atracted buyers because they were quite high end.
"There was also pool area out the back, so it was the complete package for a lot of buyers."
Other auction results included a three-bedroom home on a sought-after street in Redhead which earned huge gains for the sellers.
Shiels and Co Property's auction of 35 Steel Street drew three registered bidders who opened the bidding at $1.5 million and took it through to a sale price of $1.625 million.
CoreLogic records show the property last sold in 2002 for $150,000.
In Charlestown, the auction of a five-bedroom home listed with Century 21 Newcastle at 59 Timbercrest Chase drew seven registrations.
After an opening bid of $1.35 million, the property sold for $1.61 million.
According to CoreLogics' preliminary results, auctions across Newcastle and Lake Macquarie recorded a clearance rate of 77.8 per cent in the week ending February 4.
There were 37 auctions scheduled last week and from 18 results, CoreLogic recorded 14 cleared auctions and four uncleared auctions.
Last week's results are up from December when the auction clearance rate was at 69 per cent in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, according to Reynolds Auctions.
The median house value in Highfields is $940,000, according to CoreLogic.
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