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Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder and when West Hobart’s ‘worst house in the best street’ went under the hammer on the weekend, about 150 people turned up to take a look.

The West Hobart fixer-upper – or knocker-downer – at 17 William Street went under the hammer on Saturday, but it ultimately came down to six registered bidders – four local buyers and two phone bidders in Victoria.

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Devine Property Hobart agent Brad Stephens said bidding for the fixer-upper started at $300,000, with bids quickly approaching $400,000.

He said it was then that the “serious bidders” really piled on the pressure before the hammer fell at $435,000.

“It ended up selling to some first home buyers who want to restore it,” he said.

“They have a lot of work to do but could see its potential.”

The 77sq m weatherboard cottage has a two-bedroom single-bathroom floorplan, with a combined living and dining space, a kitchen and a separate outhouse.

It sits on a 172sq m block less than 1km from the centre of Hobart.

Government records suggest it was built in 1900 but Mr Stephens believes it is even older.

It was owned by an elderly gentleman who passed away a few months ago and was sold on behalf of his estate.

As of this morning, the renovators delight had pulled in more than 23,000 property views and was the most viewed house in Tasmania last week.

Mr Stephens said properties like the West Hobart cottage were always popular, but were a rare find.

He said those types of properties tended to attract builders and DIY-ers.

“With people unable to travel, if they have employment they are looking for a project to spend that disposable income on,” he said.

The post Six bidders battle it out for Hobart’s hovel in the hot suburb appeared first on realestate.com.au.

A mid-century gem once home to one of Australia’s leading post-war architects has hit the market in incredible original condition.

The Ernest Fooks 1964 creation at 32 Howitt Road, Caulfield North is for sale with a $4-$4.4m price guide.

Gary Peer Caulfield director Phillip Kingston said the three-bedroom property was built for Dr Fooks and his wife Noemi, who immigrated from Austria, via Canada, before World War II.

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He said Fooks House had been the ultimate party pad for the couple, who owned the property until 2013.

“They never had children, so it was a home where they entertained in a huge way,” Mr Kingston said.

“Their time was spent was having friends over to this house and celebrating life.”

Retro finishes include a colourful living room bar, curved wooden ceiling and bespoke brickwork both inside and outside the home.

Mr Kingston also noted a Japanese influence in the design, including its landscaped gardens and sliding doors.

“This is a visionary creation,” he said.

“Most modern interior designers and architects would kill to be able to create something like this.”

The 1092sq m block includes a large pool and is on one of Caulfield North’s most prestigious streets, he added.

Ms Fooks successfully secured National Trust heritage protection for the house in 2002, before she died a decade later aged 103.

In a Beaumaris Modern video by Trace Films, Ms Fooks said the house had always caught the attention of architecture enthusiasts.

“There is no maintenance required for this house,” Ms Fooks said.

“People think I’m crazy to live in such a big house on my own, but no work needs to be done.

“Every room has a function and access to the garden.”

It previously sold for $2.41m in 2013, according to CoreLogic.

While the home has remained in original condition since its last transaction, there are approved plans and permits for an extension, which add a second storey with another living room and three additional bedrooms.

“It would be a sympathetic addition to the rear, which does not impact the heritage listing,” Mr Kingston said.

“The owners were going to do the renovation, but their circumstances have changed so they are now passing the property on to its next owner.”

A previous application to demolish the kitchen, which has survived five decades with most of its original features intact including a General Motors Holden Custom Deluxe frigidaire oven, was rejected by the National Trust.

Mr Kingston said the discreet campaign would be more broadly advertised once the ban on private inspections was eased.

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The post Fooks House: Caulfield North mid-century home of Dr Ernest Fooks for sale appeared first on realestate.com.au.

First there was talk of first-home buyers and their smashed avocado on toast, now another breakfast analogy has been cooked up to explain the current state of the property market.

“If smashed avocado had anything to do with housing affordability over the last decade, scrambled eggs will be the dish of the 20s,” said Propertyology head of research, Simon Pressley.

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The buyers’ agent and researcher said the traditional “fried egg” town planning model – where CBDs are filled with office towers, retail and high-density apartments (the yolk) surrounded by an urban sprawl (the egg white) – is about to be “scrambled”.

The era of the smashed avocado, and its influence on property affordability appears to be over.

After six months of observing how COVID-19 has hit the real estate market, Propertyology came up with a number of property predictions.

“We’ll continue to live in a world of disruption until such time as a vaccine is available. But the disruption from this germ has been big enough and already lasted long enough for Australian real estate to have changed forever,” Mr Pressley said.

He said Australians are in the midst of re-evaluating their priorities.

“Before too long, there’ll be a big enough critical mass of people who will work and/or live at a different address to cause a structural shift in property markets,” he said.

“A germ does not diminish Australia’s total demand for shelter, but it will significantly influence where people choose to take shelter,” said Mr Pressley.

Knowledge-based employees and clerical workers have been able to test drive working from home and Mr Pressley said some may never want to go back to their office – or live near it.

A new kind of demand

More manageable mortgages, low density locations (that are less susceptible to future lockdowns) regional lifestyle destinations, and working from home compatibility will be on buyers’ wish lists from now on according to Mr Pressley.

With that in mind COVID-19 was “the final nail in the coffin” for high-rise apartments.

“This asset class was increasingly problematic pre-COVID. And now the future is uncertain for workers in hotels, restaurants and hospitality – who normally service international visitors. Ditto, the airline industry and international students. Many of this demographic are part of the egg yolk, renting an inner-city apartment,” he said.

Conversely, he anticipates detached houses within affordable metropolitan suburbs and desirable regional locations will gain popularity.

“We will progressively see some of that yellow yolk blend into the egg white.”

The decade of decentralisation

Social demographer, Mark McCrindle said the egg metaphor for our cities was apt.

“We call it the sprawl and crawl model, because the cities continue to sprawl, and then people crawl their way back into the CBD for work. It’s had obviously some inefficiencies from a time and investment perspective, which has led to ridiculously high-priced property in the CBDs and lower prices out there on the fringe,” he said.

“The employment model has been such that people have needed to spend a long time commuting into that yolk. There’ve been attempts to create, if you like, multiple ‘yolks’ in the egg to allow the population to have their ultimate goal of living, working, and playing close to where they live. It’s been trending that way slowly, but COVID has really transformed things.

“Multiple egg yolks are better than a single egg. It spreads the population and it leads to those 20 or 30-minute cities, and that’s great. But it’s not the complete solution.”

The regionalisation of real estate

According to Mr Pressley, where we work and how much we earn has always had a huge influence on where we live.

“The impact of these property economics will affect a big enough critical mass to influence future property market performance. As always, there will be property market winners and losers associated with changing economic conditions,” he said.

He added that the pandemic may be the “elbow in the ribs” Australia needed to implement a decentralisation policy and see the birth of “regionalisation”.

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Pressley predicts a new era of regionalisation is likely to produce about twenty low-density towns and cities that will benefit from significant internal migration.

“Just think about which Australian locations provide people with the lowest risk of future COVID lockdowns and the lowest risk of restricted lifestyles,” he said.

“Which locations have an economic profile with an industry mix that is conducive to this new world, thereby providing greater household income certainty? Where one can buy a good quality detached house in a location that offers plentiful open space and a manageable mortgage?”

It’s not just about the money

Managing the mortgage isn’t top priority for all Australians escaping the city according to Nerida Conisbee, chief economist for realestate.com.au.

“We’ve seen tonnes of searches for property outside the cities – and it’s not an affordability thing. Northern NSW is one very popular location and if you have a look at how expensive those areas in and around Byron Bay are, it’s high.,” she said.

While Ms Conisbee agreed the traditional town planning model does fit the fried egg analogy, she said she is not convinced the future looks scrambled.

“What we’re seeing now, is that more people are working from home. I think regional Australia will be a beneficiary of this. We’re already seeing very high search levels in regional areas, and I think that’s because some people have realised they don’t need to be in the city all the time. I’m not sure if it’s a scrambled egg, but yes, there will be more of a spread,” she said.

Cities of the future

“We’ve decoupled work from location, and so now most work in a knowledge economy can be done regardless of location. That’s been the trend, but we should keep in mind that the CBDs will still be required and will thrive in the future,” Mr McCrindle said.

The inevitable change to our work set ups will have a domino effect on property prices.

“We’ll see regional areas and the outer ring suburbs do a lot better, because now we have decoupled work from location and reduced the commuting frequency. But workspaces will still required in the future,” he said.

“So someone in the outer ring of a city might only be commuting an hour and a half two days a week, not five. Or someone in a regional centre still might need to go to a city, but only a couple of days a week. That’s a game changer and therefore opens up regional and outer suburban living for a lot more people.”

Where to next for units

Ms Conisbee warned we shouldn’t place inner city and suburban apartments in the same basket.

“It’s always been higher density properties in outer suburban areas that have struggled and I don’t think that will change. COVID has just made it even more challenging.

“What people want is a bit more space and that’s showing in the search data,” she said.

But that doesn’t signal the death of all property within the inner city “yolk”.

“Working from home might still be a bit of a novelty for some, but I think people get a lot out of working with others, and being near other people in their industry, that won’t change,” she added.

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Mr McCrindle also said he didn’t see the final nail in the coffin for apartments.

“We still love detached homes, and townhouses, but we’ve had quite a few decades now of apartment living. The model has worked for a lot of people from a lifestyle perspective. Older Australians are loving apartment living,” he said.

“Walkable communities that we’ve liked for so long, the cafe and restaurant culture that surrounds these apartments or high density population areas is something Aussies love and that will bounce back after COVID.”

Ms Conisbee maintained there will always be a demand for city living.

“Our cities will recover, but it is going to be quite painful between now and that recovery, and that’s where we’ll start to see a bit more of a redistribution of people in that short to medium term. But longer term, there’s definitely still a place for our cities,” she said.

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The post How the Aussie property market has turned from smashed avo to scrambled eggs appeared first on realestate.com.au.

A Sydney mega mansion with nearly 1000sqm of internal space is set to rewrite property records after coming up for sale.

The 2.02ha estate with resort-style facilities has six bedrooms, an imported European 72 light Swarovski Crystal Chandelier, a staircase that took a month to complete and rural views.

CoreLogic records reveal the Dural landholding has been owned by mining and construction equipment businessman Chris Jelen for 19 years, after he paid $714,000 for the block in 2001.

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The palatial estate has a $13.8m price guide and is for sale through Agency by Alison Coopes director Alison Coopes.

A sale at this price point would see ‘Belvedere’ eclipse the current Dural suburb record by $2.95m, according to CoreLogic.

Completed in 2010, the Jelen family have spared no expense to construct the largest house in Dural with 974sqm of internal living.

The owners also spent $360,000 on iron fencing and gates, $60,000 on a fountain and fire pit area, and Ms Coopes estimates landscaping alone cost $500,000 and took two years to complete.

Belvedere is equipped with a tennis court, a swimming pool, rumpus room and bar, two spa baths and a seven-car garage. It is constructed with 360 cubic meters of concrete, 100,000 schooner bricks, custom Italian marble flooring and Georgian style Corbels.

“The house has been built in such a way that it will never deteriorate and need to be structurally repaired,” Ms Coopes said.

The real estate agent said that apart from the quality, the property is unlike anything she has seen in the Hills before.

“It is unusual for a block of this size to have elevated views and not be affected by power lines or easements in the ‘Golden Triangle’,” she said.

Ms Coopes said the owners completed a renovation on the property five years after the build in 2015. Since the renovation, she said the family has only lived in a tiny section of the mansion on the lower ground.

“It feels brand new with most of the house having been unlived in,” she said.

The grandeur on the home is evident after entering the main foyer that has 6m ceilings with an imported European 72 light Swarovski Crystal Chandelier and a spiral staircase that took worker’s nearly a month to complete. All the bedrooms are oversized including the main, which features his and her walk-in wardrobes, a spa, bidet and shower jets.

Since launching to market last week, Ms Coopes has been inundated with inquires from buyers across Sydney including the Hills, north shore and eastern suburbs.

She said while some buyers are looking to upgrade, many want the house as a weekender.

“A lot of buyers are looking to make a change and want a weekender that is no more than 40 minutes from the city,” she said.

The home also includes two driveways, a service access gate with staff carpark, a laundry with laundry chute from all three levels, a seven-car garage that could accommodate a car stacker and a gym that can be converted into a home cinema. The rumpus room includes a bar, wall mounted TV, high ceilings and an open wood fireplace with marble mantle.

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The post Businessman Chris Jelen’s Dural mansion with Swarovski Crystal chandelier set to break record appeared first on realestate.com.au.