A crowd of 70 people gathered over the auction of a Holland Park West home this morning, as seven registered bidders competed to decide its fate: renovation or demolition.
The three-bedroom, one-bathroom home at 59 Dunrod Street sits on 834 sqm of elevated property, and had been a rental property up until the time of the sale.
Auctioneer David Holmes of Holmes Auctions described it as a “renovate or detonate” – a home that would need to be changed one way or the other by its owners to support long-term living.
59 Dunrod St, Holland Park West
Several of the registered bidders were looking to make changes to areas such as the balcony, while others were keen to knock down the whole structure entirely.
With a starting bid of $1m, four active bidders took part in the fight to claim the post-war home for themselves.
Agent Chris Kazonis of Drakos Real Estate West End said the auction had a slow start, but picked up the more the home rose in price.
“Two people were early in the [bidding], then a third and fourth joined in,” he said, “especially as we grew closer to the reserve price.”
The home was advertised as one to either renovate or demolish, should it be bought at auction.
Several bidders keen for the property took different sides on the matter, with some hoping to fix it up and others seeking to tear it down.
The home went on the market at $1.5 million, when bidding went back down to two. Increments of $5,000 and $10,000 rose the bidding up by another $100,000.
Finally, the home sold on the market for $1.61 million.
“It was quite competitive, and it was above the reserve price,” Mr Kazonis said.
A crowd of more than 60 people gathered to see how the auction would play out.
The auction ended up going to a family who sought to make a new built atop the site.
The buyers were a local couple who lived in Holland Park West, looking to turn the house into their eventual dream home.
In the end, the two were on the side of demolishing the home, planning an entirely new rebuild – but would need to save up the funds.
“They’re either gonna be moving in or renting it to start with, and then doing a rebuild,” Mr Kazonis said. “It’ll take a bit of time for them.”
English (US) · 