A new street record has been set for New Lambton's Wallarah Road after a local fought off strong interest from Sydney buyers.
Ray White Newcastle and Lake Macquarie's Teresa Heighington sold 56 Wallarah Road for $1.3015 million via an online auction on September 22.
A guide was not disclosed during the campaign for the three-bedroom, one-bathroom home, which had early interest at $1.1 million.
Of the 12 bidders registered, four were "very proactive", with the final pair trading off $500 increases.
The result continues the trend of strong sales in Newcastle as buyer demand continues to outstrip supply.
"Probably 80 per cent of our buyers were young families from Sydney - mainly areas like North Sydney, North Ryde and Mossman who were looking at the lifestyle change," Ms Heighington said.
"New Lambton is an area that's working super well - the schools are fantastic, there's lots of bicycle ways now and great facilities in New Lambton village and Lambton village."
The property is set on 347 square metres of land and features a stylish bathroom and a kitchen-dining area that opens out onto an attractive rear deck and garden.
Owners Craig and Kirsty Smith, pictured with daughter Edie, were "very pleased" with the auction result, having already secured a new home in Merewether before selling.
Mr Smith said his family had been looking to move closer to the beach, as well as secure an extra bedroom for visiting family.
"The problem for us is there was a certain area of Merewether that we were looking at and there's just very little stock at the moment," he said.
"Maybe in pre-COVID times you might have been able to sell your property and then go off and buy something in the settlement period, but in the current market there's very little stock around - you can't sell your property and have nowhere to go.
"We were quite excited - obviously it's very difficult to get into Merewether and the prices have been going exponentially up, so it was great that we were still able to secure a place."
According to CoreLogic data, the street's previous highest sale price was $1.025 million for a three-bedroom home at 61 Wallarah Road in March.
