The 826sq m block at 33 Kilgour St, Geelong, has sold for $1.15m.
It’s taken five years, been taken on and off that market and the original house razed, but the sale of a Geelong property near Kardinia Park offers a positive sign for the region’s property outlook.
The 826sq m plot at 33 Kilgour St sold for $1.15m, after Gartland Geelong agent Michael Tricarico secured a deal with an interstate buyer recently.
The Geelong agency is the third to handle the property’s sale in the past five years, after it had been originally listed as a knockdown-rebuild prospect in July 2020 with price hopes from $1.175m to $1.225m.
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The 826sq m block has two street frontages.
Mr Tricarico said the property is on one title, but is split into two lots, giving the buyers the choice to build one or two homes.
The Gartland team has had the property on the market for the past five months, with expectations between $1.15m and $1.25m.
Mr Tricarico said the buyers intended to build, which is a positive sign that confidence was returning to the market from purchasers looking for building, renovation or redevelopment projects.
Geelong’s median house price has spiked this spring, jumping 21 per cent to $870,000, according to PropTrack data, although it’s only risen 3.6 per cent compared to the figure recorded in 2020.
“It depends on the clientele, but it does seem like there’s a little bit more of an appetite for renovation at the moment, which is positive,” Mr Tricarico said.
The property initially hit the market with a since-demolished brick house.
“I think people are getting used to what is now the new normal in terms of build costs and things.”
The original house was demolished and the block cleared to offer an unencumbered property, with the asking price range peaking at $2.1m to $2.2m in 2022.
The property, described as a blue chip location, has street frontages to Kilgour St and Fagg Place, lending itself to potential subdivision into two or four individual street-facing lots.
The block is a near-neighbour of the Kilgour Place townhouse development that replaced the former Gordon TAFE Moorabool St campus.
The land is flat, north and south-facing, and ideally suited for premium townhomes or bespoke residences, which are increasingly common in the area.
The property is close to all the amenities on offer in central Geelong.
“Supply is still there for builders while everyone is crying out that we’ve got this housing shortage,” Mr Tricarico said.
“For as long as that’s around there’s going to be an appetite to build.
“And as Geelong gets older, there’s going to be an appetite to knockdown and rebuilding and renovated housing as well.”
Australian Bureau of Statistics housing approvals data shows significant demand for building in Geelong’s established suburbs, with nearly 300 projects approved across the city’s inner suburbs in the past year, such as Newtown, East Geelong and Geelong West.
Building approvals spiked in Newtown in particular, rising from 39 to 105 in a year.
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