A unit in this building on Sussex St in Haymarket sold for $2.7 million.

It was a luxury apartment with city views and use of a swimming pool but even the agents were blown away when it went under the hammer Saturday.

The four-bedroom, four-bathroom home in Haymarket was expected to sell for about $2.2 million, but instead sold for $2.7 million — $500,000 over the vendor’s reserve price.

The result was even more surprising considering only two buyers registered for the auction of the Sussex St home and bidding only got kicked off after a $2.15 million vendor bid was placed.

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Auctioneer Rocky Bartolotto of Auction Services then received a series of offers that went up in increments of mostly $10,000 but once the offers crossed $2.2 million it changed into “a bidding war”, he said.

Both registered buyers began upping the ante in $50,000 increments until the hammer finally fell at $2.7 million.

Selling agent Yang Zhang of Great Property Investment said the result was much higher than his team ever expected.

“It’s a spacious apartment, special for the CBD,” he said. “It was over expectation, I was very surprised, but in this market you can a good price if you have good property.”

Mr Bartolotto said the result showed what could happen when two “extremely” committed buyers went head to head.

“Both bidders tried to knock each other out with big bids but it didn’t work and the auction went on,” he said.

The buyer is understood to be planning to move in, while the underbidder wanted to rent the property out.

Auctioneer Rocky Bartolotto dropped the hammer at $2.7 million.

Earlier in the day, a one-bedroom unit on Campbell St in Balmain sold under the hammer for $710,000, beating the reserve price by $90,000. The opening bid was $570,000.

Selling agent Lynsey Kemp of Belle Property-Balmain said interest came from a mix of mostly investors and first home buyers but the eventual buyer was a downsizer.

Eleven groups registered to bid and five took an active part in the auction.

CoreLogic’s latest quarterly auction review report showed 74.6 per cent of Sydney auctions were a success over the past three months.

The clearance rate was measured across 6373 auctions, down from 6776 over the same time last year when the clearance rate was just 50.9 per cent.

The Sussex St unit is located in a building with a swimming pool.

CoreLogic head of research Tim Lawless said it was a “remarkable” rebound for the market.

“The lift in clearance rates highlights a better fit between buyer and seller pricing expectations and some urgency creeping back into the market,” Mr Lawless said.

He said the renewed sense of energy in the market came as “a larger pool of buyers compete for a smaller than usual number of homes for sale”.

The suburb with the highest clearance rate was Marrickville in the inner west, where 97.4 per cent of auctions were successful over the past three months.

The wider city region with the most successful auctions was the northern beaches, with a clearance rate of 81 per cent.

This was followed by the CBD and inner south region at 80 per cent, the north shore at 79 per cent and the eastern suburbs and inner west at 78 per cent.

8/13 Campbell St, Balmain sold to a downsizer for $710,000.

The weakest auction markets were the Central Coast and outer west, where clearance rates were under 50 per cent — but auctions are not traditionally a popular sales method in either region.

Standout auction sales may encourage more homeowners to sell in the coming months, Mr Lawless said.

“There is a strong likelihood advertised stock levels and the number of scheduled auctions will progressively rise as spring progresses and vendor confidence lifts on healthier housing market conditions,” he said.