The large terrace on Georgina St sold for $6.85 million prior to auction. That's nearly $1 million above the area's previous suburban record and $3.7 million above the $3.15 million in 2019.

Sellers Euan McMillan and David Service bought the four-bedroom property at auction four years ago, outbidding their competitors.

They told the Sunday Telegraph at the time that they were confident of winning the auction hours before it began and booked a celebratory dinner for the evening.

Mr Service said at the time: 'We knew we had the budget to make a big splash'.

The couple are known to have experience of refurbishing homes, having previously refurbished a property in Surry Hills.

It is unclear how much they spent on refurbishing the Newtown property, which was sold in 2019 and required a series of cosmetic renovations.

The terrace has a long history. Sales records show the home was bequeathed to the University of Sydney by Dr Gary Simes, a language historian and documentarian, who died in 2017.

Mr Simes' published works include the 1993 Dictionary of Underworld Slang, as well as a number of dictionaries and bibliographies on gay and lesbian language.

The academic was known to regularly host special interest groups and other events at his home in Georgina St, which he purchased in the 1970s.

The area has long been an academic favourite. Famous Australian Indigenous activist Charles Perkins, the first Indigenous man to graduate from university in Australia, lived on the same street.

The 2019 asking price sent shockwaves through Newtown. It was $600,000 above the seller's reserve price of $2.55 million and attracted 21 bidders.

The Grand Terrace appears to have surprised observers once again, with the 2023 asking price well above expectations.

Darren Pearce, who was part of the BresicWhitney team responsible for the sale of the property, said the initial expected price was in the region of $6 million, but some interested parties were prepared to pay more.

"There are a lot of prices on the market that are higher than $6 million," he said, adding that the property is "very special."

"People really like it." Mr Pearce said. People can appreciate the attention to detail and the fluidity of the design. It looks great ...... The location across the road from the park is also unique.

Many of those who have expressed interest in Newtown are from the eastern suburbs, including coastal suburbs such as Coogee.

Mr Pearce said there could be more multi-million dollar properties for sale given Newtown's increasing popularity with well-funded buyers currently located in the east.

Prices like this are more like what we would expect a house in Paddington to sell for, but I don't see why more similar houses in Newtown won't reach these prices.

PropTrack figures show that about 70 per cent of auctions in Sydney were successful last week.