A SUNNY first day of spring greeted buyers at auctions around the capital yesterday.
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The warm weather brought out large crowds to watch houses go under the hammer, with one real estate agent remarking that the season was off to a solid start.
Mario Sanfrancesco of Peter Blackshaw's Manuka office said there were positive signs for the coming months and towards the end of the year.
''You can see there is still a slight lack of confidence among buyers out there today, but having said that, we are finding that the level of inquiries and the levels of property inspections are on the rise,'' he said.
''Canberra is faring very well compared to the other states at the moment.
''We are anticipating we will be very busy this season. We sold a house at 9 Newdegate Street, Deakin for $1.1 million and we had 75 groups inspect that property. There were three registered bidders for that one and they really fought it out at the auction towards the end.
''The house had been extensively renovated some years ago and the presentation was superb. It had a really good feel about it. The owners were delighted by the result.''
A house at 3 Barwell Place, Curtin, pictured, was passed in yesterday.
''We had a number of registered bidders for that one but in the end it did not sell and it was passed in at $600,000,'' Mr Sanfrancesco said.
The property was a three-bedroom home with a brand new custom kitchen which also had an antique fireplace and white french doors that led into the garden.
Yesterday saw a lot of 50/50 results for real estate agents around the ACT, with many selling half the number of properties put up for auction.