Interstate buyers went head to head for an original Bell Park house where the big corner block offered a tantalising future upside.
Buyers from Brisbane and Sydney locked horns for the three-bedroom house at 1 Curtin St, Bell Park, pushing the price more than $60,000 above price hopes at the auction.
Buxton agent Ben Riddle said both were looking to unlock the value in the 672sq m corner block down the track.
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The three-bedroom house at 1 Curtin St, Bell Park, sold for $642,000 at auction.
The property had been listed with price hopes from $540,000 to $580,000.
“There were only two parties, but it went to $642,000. They just basically opened up $550,000 and went toe to toe,” Mr Riddle said.
“Obviously the potential was to upgrade the house and also probably subdivide the back yard.
“That was the expensive part of the house, but it was well above expectation. I’m really pleased with the number.”
Mr Riddle said the buyers came with a plan to access the first-home owners grant and possibly do a project down the down the track.
There is potential to upgrade the house at 1 Curtin St, Bell Park.
“There’s better homes in the area for similar money or a bit cheaper, but the potential was obviously to keep the house, unlock the back yard, and sort of not lose much off the face value of the property,” he said.
“So it’s obviously a good little potential subdivision down the track.”
Mr Riddle said there wasn’t an obvious connection to Geelong for the buyers, but people had recognised the region was at the bottom of the price cycle.
“We actually had good interest in it. The issue was that there’s a few conditional buyers that just couldn’t meet the unconditional status.
The 671sq m corner block presents a subdivision and development opportunity at 1 Curtin St, Bell Park.
“That’s a challenge where the banks are making it harder and taking longer with the higher interest rates.”
The price also offered put a spotlight on the affordability challenge facing buyers in Australia’s most expensive city.
The $642,000 sale price is equivalent of the median price of a unit in the outer south west Sydney suburb of Camden, which is on the rural fringe of the New South Wales capital.
PropTrack data shows the Sydney suburbs with the nearest median house price to $642,000 were at least $60,000 more expensive and in the far outer west of the city.
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