Canberra first home buyer purchases three-bedroom house at 16 Batchelor Street, Torrens ACT after auction

Avril Hewitt is one of five children who grew up in the home at 16 Batchelor Street, built by her late parents Cheryl and Eddie Hewitt.

The couple paid 99 pounds for the 700-square-metre parcel of land in 1965 and spent under $5000 on the house, which Mr Hewitt built himself in 1966.

"We're all still kind of pinching ourselves," Ms Hewitt said.

"Never in a million years would mum or dad have thought that their house was going to reach over a million dollars, let alone $1.26 million."

Selling agent Kris Hellier of McGrath Canberra said two bidders registered for the auction on Saturday.

The auction was passed in at $1.21 million and later sold to the top bidder for $1.26 million following negotiations.

"[He was a] first home buyer who had been looking for some time. He was quite emotional afterwards that it had finally happened," Mr Hellier said.

Ms Hewitt said handing over the house to a first home buyer made the sale a little easier.

"We're sad that the house is gone and it's not our family base anymore but we feel relieved that we don't have the stress and the pressure of selling a house," she said.

"[The buyer] was with his mum and his aunty and we stayed at the property for about an hour telling stories.

"My mum was the last person to live there... and she had her great grandchildren coming around to visit her at the house. We had four generations go through that house and it's changed a lot."

Among the most recent renovations were new floors, fresh paint and an updated kitchen.

"We've had two fireplaces in there at separate times and they've both been taken out," Ms Hewitt said.

"My dad built an indoor garden in the middle of the house at one point, it was beautiful, and that's been taken out. So a lot's changed inside."

Among Ms Hewitt's favourite features of the home were the high ceilings, the garden and vegetable patch out the back and the "massive kitchen bench" that served as a meeting place for family and friends.

"It was always a central house being close to high school, we were always allowed to have friends come through and friends pick us up on the way to school," she said.

"Mum and dad always liked to have a house full of more kids other than their own. People would just come and go as they wanted, the door was always open."

House prices in Torrens saw a 35 per cent increase in the 12 months to December 2021, according to CoreLogic figures.

The median house price for the suburb was $1.15 million at the end of last year, up from $851,250 in December 2020.

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It's a far cry from the 1960s when Torrens was considered a suburb in the bush, Ms Hewitt said.

"Mum and dad lived at Watson and they moved all the way over to Torrens and people just said 'You're crazy, there's nothing there'," she said.

Today, the suburb's proximity to shops and schools is a big drawcard for young families and first home buyers.

"From Batchelor [Street] you cross over the main road and you're into Mawson shops. It's close to Marist, Melrose [schools], it's just a good central location at Woden," Mr Hellier said.

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