Buyers in the Throsby land auction in February paid an average $108,000 more than the reserve price for their blocks, in further evidence of the fierce competition in Canberra's property market.
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The February auction netted the Land Development Agency $11 million more than it had banked on when it set the reserve prices for the blocks, with the sales bringing in a total of $48 million.
One buyer paid $172,000 more than the reserve price, paying $536,500 for a 540 square metre block.
The cheapest were nine blocks of just 315 square metres. They had reserve prices ranging from $258,300 to $265,500, but all sold for tens of thousands more, at prices between $340,000 and $356,000.
Almost 800 bidders were registered for the February auction of the 106 blocks. The auction was unrestricted, so builders and developers were free to bid alongside families, and buyers were free to bid on as many sections as they wished.
The ACT government's method of releasing relatively small parcels of around 100 blocks to auction has been strongly criticised by advocates of affordable housing who say it artificially inflates prices, pushing land out of the reach of all but the well off.
A former director of policy development in Treasury from 2001 till 2013 and a critic of land-release in Canberra, Khalid Ahmed, has said people paid more than they should have in Wright in 2010 and in Lawson in 2014.
In the first auction of blocks in Wright, Molonglo, in 2010, buyers paid an average $380,000 for a 530 square metre block in the first auction, or $740 a square metre. Dr Khalid's analysis suggested they paid at least $100,000 more than they should.
In Lawson, Belconnen, buyers paid $900 a square metre in 2014, or about $130,000 more than Dr Khalid said the land was worth for the average block of 463 square metres.
In Throsby, Gungahlin's newest suburb, the sizes of the 106 blocks released in February average 489 square metres and a price of $450,217, or $920 a square metre.
The top price paid was $665,000 for a 1035 square metre section, although three-quarters of the Throsby sections were less than 500 square metres.
Land Development Agency chief executive David Dawes said the Throsby land was highly anticipated because of its location next to Horse Park Drive, 2.5 kilometres from the Gungahlin town centre and near the Mulligans Flat and Goorooyarroo nature reserves.
"The prices paid are an indication of the premium product and the continued strength of the Canberra construction market," he said.
Asked how the agency chose its reserve prices, he said it used independent valuers, who took into account historical data, location, size, proximity to amenities and open spaces in deciding a market value.
- with Markus Mannheim
