Fears of another interest rate rise have prevented fireworks from going off across Sydney auctions this week, with buyers rarely making outlandish offers unless they saw properties as exceptional.

Agents reported most auctions were fairly sedate, with two to three bidders contesting most properties and reserve prices seldom exceeded by more than a few thousand dollars.

This was described as a “normal” market – something Sydney has lacked in recent years due to the rollercoaster ride of price climbs and falls that spawned both record booms and busts.

“You have to understand, Sydney has not had ‘normal’ for a very long time, basically all the way back to the global financial crisis in 2008,” said PropTrack economist Paul Ryan.

“What we’re finally seeing is a more balanced market. It’s not a bad time to be selling or buying. The market has lost those earlier (extremes) … interest rates are a factor in that.”

There were 850 auctions across Sydney this weekend. Picture: Tim Hunter.

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Mr Ryan said nervousness over the prospect of another rate hike was likely keeping some buyers’ offers in check, but there was also an expectation that any rise would be minor, which was preventing a slump.

Sydney buyers recently got an extra boost in the form of a 30 per cent jump in the number of new listings, which has taken some pressure off them to offer bigger prices, Mr Ryan said.

Among the 850 properties that went under the hammer this week was an Eastwood house built atop an old apple orchard.

The house on Balaclava Rd sold for $2.36m, $160,000 over reserve. There were four bidders.

Natalie and Anthony Raad put in the winning bid, with Ms Raad revealing they benefited from hanging back during the early part of the auction to gauge the other bidders.

The couple had only been looking since May after selling their previous home in a pre-auction deal.

Natalie and Anthony Raad secured an Eastood house after a month-long house search. Picture: Tim Hunter.

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“It was OK,” Ms Raad said. “As sellers, we got a lot of interest, but not much of it was serious. We had one really keen buyer so it wasn’t hard selling.

“With buying, our biggest problem was that the prices the agents gave weren’t always realistic. But we just educated ourselves on past sales. Once we did that, we were fine.”

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Selling agent Catherine Murphy of The Agency said the home was popular with buyers because it offered a cheaper price point into Eastwood.

Auctioneer Edward Riley said the auction attracted strong bidding, but this was not the norm across Sydney auctions.

Auctioneer Edward Riley calls bids on the Eastwood house. Picture: Tim Hunter.

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“You can go from one property to the next and the results can vary hugely, even if those properties are quite similar. There is little consistency,” he said.

“A while back, if it was a turnkey property, where the buyers didn’t have to do anything, you knew it would sell well, but the results are a lot more mixed. It’s patchier than it’s ever been before.”

Mr Riley attributed the mixed results to growing uncertainty over the direction of interest rates and vendors’ often setting their price expectations based on results that occurred when the market was stronger.

“It’s funny. Buyers are lot more fussy now and are pretty noncommittal, but then you get a few out of line sales that defy the rest. So one goes $500,000 over expectation, while others like it struggle.

23 Archbold Rd, Roseville.

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“I think all the rhetoric about rates has had an impact. One minute buyers were told they’d be getting up to three cuts this year. Now they’re told there won’t be a cut this year. It’s all playing into their decision making.”

Among the standout sales with a higher than expected result was a Georgian-style house in Roseville, built circa 1923. It resold for more than triple the price the sellers paid back in 2012.

The four-bedroom house on Archbold St, known as Hillcrest, changed hands at auction for $3.445m, well above the $3m price guide. Four parties registered to bid with selling agent Jessica Cao of Ray White North Shore.

The home had sold for $1m in 2012 and was renovated a few years later, records showed. The new buyers were a local couple.

1 Boardman St, Dundas Valley.

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In Dundas Valley, a home seller netted a cool $100,000 for each of the seven years they owned their property thanks to some spectacular market rises.

The vendors of the Boardman St house bought the property in 2015 for $1.505m and resold it at auction on Saturday for $2.21m, $705,000 higher. Three bidders participated at the auction, placing 26 bids between them, including an opening bid of $1.7m. The underbidder dropped out of the auction at $2.2m.

Auctions in Dulwich Hill and Pennant Hills attracted five bidders each. The former, on Hampstead Rd sold with Ray White agent Ercan Ersan for about $2.43m. The latter, on Azalea Grove, sold with agent Nathan Leuzzi for $2.85m.