21st February 2020: Surrey Hills Auction Won From Wuhan Lockdown Amid Coronavirus

The single-level Surrey Hills residence sold $350,000 above reserve.

Written by Jack Boronovskis for realestate.com.au on 20 February 2020

The buyer, who is an Australian citizen, picked up 23 Bentley St for $1.65 million after competition from five other groups, mostly made up of downsizers and young professionals.

Fletchers Canterbury director Tim Heavyside said the purchaser had missed out on other properties and planned to downsize into the three-bedroom townhouse.

Six groups contested the auction.

"She's not a resident of China, she's an Australian citizen," Mr Heavyside said. "She's stuck in Wuhan (the coronavirus epicentre), but she still bought it from Wuhan by FaceTiming with her son.

"The fact that it was so close to her son made it an easy decision to buy that particular property."

Mr Heavyside said Australia's reputation for first-class health care and economic stability was helping the local real estate market grow, predicting it would return to 2017 peak levels by midway through this year.

"Australia is actually quite a safe haven for any type of nationality, particularly for people that are worried about coronavirus and things like that," Mr Heavyside said.

"Being safe is very high on people's list."

The buyer was happy to pay $1.65 million to live closer to her son.

The home's kitchen.

Workers transfer medical waste at Leishenshan Hospital, the newly-built makeshift hospital for novel coronavirus patients, in Wuhan on February 18, 2020. Photo: STR/AFP

Mr Heavyside said the Surrey Hills sale was a "representation of how strong the market is."

"There's a lot of buyers out there that are trading out of fear or greed," he said.

The Federal Government's coronavirus travel ban was last week extended to at least February 22. It does not prevent Australian citizens and permanent residents returning to Australia from mainland China.

Visit the REA website with the article here: Surrey Hills auction won from Wuhan lockdown amid coronavirus