Auctioneer Ricky Briggs at the sale of a Leichhardt townhouse. Picture: James Gourley

A former Melbourne resident had to dig deep into her pockets to beat out other contenders for a Leichhardt townhouse at a pressure cooker auction.

Sarah Humphreys was one of eight bidders to register for the two-bedroom home on William St and purchased the property Saturday for just over $1.088 million — nearly $40,000 above the reserve.

It was the culmination of a long journey for the Rozelle-based buyer who had been seeking out a new home for the past six months and lost out at a Marrickville auction weeks prior.

MORE: Suburbs leading the market recovery

Deceased estate smashes reserve by $620,000

“I’m very happy,” she said. “I really liked the outdoor spaces and the flow in the house … I was pretty committed.”

Buyer Sarah Humphreys celebrates after winning the auction.

Ms Humphreys had been looking for a home for about six months.

Ms Humphreys was given a bottle of champagne by selling agent Simone Azzi of Belle Property-Annandale soon after winning the auction and said she would be celebrating.

Seller Adrian Totaro said he was “over the moon” with the result, which was well above what he expected the property to sell for.

“We had heard some auctions were struggling and we were a bit nervous, but this went really, really well,” Mr Totaro said.

His family had picked up the home in 2013 for $700,000, CoreLogic records showed.

Auctioneer Ricky Briggs received an opening bid within 30 seconds of launching the auction.

Auctioneer Ricky Briggs received an opening bid of $920,000 and six of the registered bidders submitted offers. A crowd of about 80 people were at the auction.

The opening offer came within seconds of the auction starting, suggesting buyers were confident to bid high, Mr Briggs said.

“There was good, clear bidding,” he said. “In a slow market, auctions can sometimes take a while to get started. This was different … the mood was electric.”

Ms Azzi said bidding was competitive because buyers were short of options that “ticked every box” at the $1 million mark.

The Leichhardt townhouse was described as one of the area’s best listings.

“This was probably the best listing in the area at that price,” she said, adding that more than 150 groups went through the property before the auction and she issued 34 contracts of sale.

Earlier in the day, a two-bedroom unit on Cambridge St in Stanmore sold for $835,000, pipping the $770,000 reserve and price guide by $55,000.

Selling agent Adrian Tsalavas of McGrath-Newton said demand for the unit was “crazy” — 12 buyers registered for the auction and 350 groups came through the open for inspections.

The property was among 283 homes to go under the hammer today, a volume consistent with previous weeks but well down on auction numbers last year and in 2017.

3/46 Cambridge St, Stanmore sold for $835,000.

With stock levels shrinking in popular areas such as the inner west and eastern suburbs, Sydney auction clearance rates have been trending up in recent weeks.

Last week nearly 73 per cent of auctions produced a successful result for the sellers, while the weeks prior it was 71 per cent, according to CoreLogic.

Weekly clearance rates before the election were substantially lower, hovering around the 58 per cent mark for much of May and April.

Vendors have had particularly strong results in the eastern suburbs, where one in nine sales were a success last week. The success rate of inner west auctions was 80 per cent.