This dilapidated 'time capsule' house at 5 George St Marrickville sold for $3.87m — $1.8m above its reserve — and will be bulldozed for an apartment block. Picture: Google.

saw one dilapidated wreck destined for the bulldozer smash expectations by almost $2m.

The Victorian era “time capsule”, which is lined with layers of period wallpaper, stunned homebuyers when bids leapt $1.8m above its reserve at a thrilling auction yesterday.

Up to six bidders stayed in the race down to the wire to buy the house which eventually sold for $3.87m, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

“In the 37 years I’ve been in real estate, it was one of the hottest auctions I’ve experienced,” said Michael Marano of Oxford Real Estate, who handled the sale.

Developers outbid homebuyers as bids raced past the $2.1m reserve set by the NSW Trustee and Guardian.

Already set among unit blocks, the Victoria era house will be razed and replaced with a four-storey apartment block. Picture: realestate.com.au.Source:Supplied

The four bedroom house, which has been in the one family for 90 years, is lined with layers of period wallpaper. Picture: realestate.com.au.Source:Supplied

Up to six bidders went down to the wire on the Marrickville home until it sold for almost $4m. Picture: realestate.com.au.Source:Supplied

The four bedroom house, which has three marble fireplaces and has been in the one family for 90 years, will now be bulldozed to make way for an apartment block.

Set amid apartments blocks, the deceased estate at 5 George Street, Marrickville in Sydney’s inner western suburbs, will be replaced by four levels of units on the 860sq m block.

The sale was triple the suburb’s median house price of $1.375m.

Another house which shattered its reserve price was Nirvana, a grand 1898 home in the lower North shore Sydney waterfront suburb of Longueville.

This house in Longueville also smashed its reserve on the last weekend in February, selling at $1.5m above for $5.05m. Picture: realestate.com.au.Source:Supplied

One of Longueville’s oldest houses set on manicured lawns, it sold on a record weekend for Sydney real estate in February. Picture: realestate.com.au.Source:Supplied

The Longueville house (above) which sold for $5.05m was put on the market in a ‘boom time for real estate’, said auctioneer Damian Cooley. Picture: realestate.com.au.Source:Supplied

One of the area’s oldest houses, it sold for $5.05m after agents had priced its reserve at between $3.5 and $3.8m.

Inspired by the lush gardens on the 1563 sq m block, formal verandas and classic Federation features, bidders easily overtook the reserve until the final hammer.

Saturday’s sales in Sydney made records on what was a test for the market in rainy weather.

Auctioneer Damian Cooley told the Sunday Telegraph that his company Cooley Auctions had put up 100 properties for sale on the last weekend of a month which had seen “unseasonably large numbers for February”.

“We would usually expect this in the weekend before Easter. It’s come early, as many vendors want to capitalise on the strength of the market.

“These are boom times for real estate.”

Core Logic made an initial estimate of the weekend’s property clearance rate at 80.72 per cent.