1988. The Sunbury ‘Caloola’ Training Centre, formerly the Sunbury lunatic asylum has long been considered haunted — but the grounds around it are to be developed.
A spirited haunting is no deterrent for homebuyers in Victoria’s spookiest suburbs.
In fact, there have been extraordinary home sales despite the grisly pasts at some of the state’s most iconic ghost hotspots.
Some of the cities most-haunted places have already been developed into housing, with economists noting it’s probable that more will be in the future.
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The grounds around Sunbury’s former mental asylum are now part of the Jacksons Creek housing estate plans drawn up by the Victorian Planning Authority in 2018.
The Eynesbury Homestead, where there are regular ghost tours, is now a focal point of the Eynesbury housing estate redevelopment by Resimax.
And Pentridge Prison, where Ronald Ryan became the last Australian hanged for capital punishment, now boasts hundreds of homes across a series of townhouses and apartment towers.
Pentridge Prison has been heavily redeveloped with hundreds of homes now present.
Ray White economist Atom Go Tian has reviewed the haunted sites that were among Victoria’s 30 most-haunted locations — among 296 assessed nationwide — and found home prices in the surrounding areas have surged to incredible heights in the past five years.
Regional Queensland was found to be the nation’s most-haunted area overall.
In Victoria his research pointed to 11 hauntings linked to hotels, pubs and restaurants, making them the most-likely locations to have a spook or spectre in the state.
Alex Misfud has led ghost tours at the Point Cook Homestead.
Melbourne:
● Coach & Horses Inn: Clarkefield — 36.50%
● Sunbury Asylum: Sunbury — 23.90%
● Eynesbury Homestead: Eynesbury — 23.70%
● Pentridge Prison: Coburg — 22.80%
● Siena College: Camberwell — 22.20%
● Altona Homestead: Altona — 22.20%
● Werribee Mansion: Werribee South — 22.10%
● Point Cook Homestead: Point Cook — 21.40%
● Black Rock House: Black Rock — 20.90%
● Bundoora Homestead Art Centre: Bundoora — 15.70%
● The Hotel Windsor: Melbourne (CBD – east) — 3.70%**
● Princess Theatre: Melbourne (CBD – east) — 3.70%**
● Golden Monkey (bar): Melbourne CBD – central) — 2.50%**
● The Mitre Tavern: (Melbourne CBD – central) — 2.50%
● Old Melbourne Gaol: Melbourne (CBD – north) — 1.80%**
— Tracks five-year median house price growth, except where ** indicates median unit price growth due to insufficient house sales
Source: Ray White
This followed the national trend, but Mr Go Tian said Victoria went against the grain with gaols and asylums the state’s second-most haunted category — with nine of the 27 noted in his firm’s data located in Victoria..
Nationwide, these property types were at the bottom of the list.
Mr Go Tian said while hauntings were likely to cover much smaller ground than the statistical areas their research had centred on, which were at minimum a few blocks, it did appear that profits trumped poltergeists.
Eerie tours have been run at the former Ararat Asylum for years. Picture: Jason Edwards.
“Unless there’s really significant evidence of paranormal activity, it doesn’t seem to be pushing people away,” Mr Go Tian said.
“Unless a whole city was haunted it wouldn’t influence the price too much.”
The economist added that with a number of the Melbourne haunted sites having already been developed or with works planned soon, there were clear signs that even directly haunted sites were still popular with homebuyers.
He said he “wouldn’t write off” more being developed in the future.
An aerial view of Beechworth Gaol, which is among Victoria’s more haunted locations. Picture: Scout Studio.
“Especially if they are prime real estate areas,” Mr Go Tian said.
“Pentridge is near the city and in the middle of things. And a lot of these locations’ histories are decades old.
“So the main insight we have inferred is that economic activity seems to overshadow paranormal activity.”
Regional Victoria:
● Lismore Cemetery and the Glowing Cross: Corangamite North — 78.70%
● J Ward: Ararat — 62.00%
● Ararat Lunatic Asylum: Ararat — 62.00%
● Beechworth Lunatic Asylum: Beechworth — 60.70%
● Old Beechworth Gaol: Beechworth — 60.70%
● Railway Hotel: Maryborough Surrounds — 58.90%
● Cape Otway Lightstation: Otway — 58.00%
● Walhalla: Mount Baw Baw Region — 49.90%
● Royal Hotel: Seymour — 41.00%
● The Eastern Hotel: Ballarat East-Warrenheip — 39.70%
● Former Ballarat Gaol: Buninyong — 39.40%
● The Old Castlemaine Gaol: Castlemaine — 39.10%
● The Cosmopolitan Hotel: Daylesford — 37.60%
● Blackwood Hotel: Bacchus Marsh Surrounds — 32.40%
● HM Prison Geelong: Geelong — 30.30%
— Growth tracks five year increase in median house price
Source: Ray White
In 2021, Brian Brewer lead Walhalla Ghost Tours as Victoria came out of lockdown. Picture: Alex Coppel.
However, despite house prices surging in regional areas with haunted attractions such as the Old Beechworth Gaol where Ned Kelly spent time locked up as a youth, and the Lismore Cemetary in Corangamite North, Mr Go Tian said it was more likely buyers would give an address in proximity to specific sites with a spooky past a miss.
This was due to there being more land to spread housing out into in less developed parts of the state.
“In regional areas it may weigh much more heavily,” he said.
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