Radical Roundup: New & Notable This Week

VIC

SORRENTO - It’s not every day that a home with a desirable Point Nepean Road address lists in the middle of winter. Then again, not every home sits so uncomfortably on the inland side of the prestige road. Despite the property’s large lot (nearly 1/2 acre), the weatherboard home itself is left without a water view. It might even be considered a redevelopment opportunity. The home last sold in the summer months of 1999 for $500k. This time around, Bennison Mackinnon agent Germaine Mengoni is hoping for $3.5m+. The listing: 3209 Point Nepean Road, Sorrento

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HAWTHORN - An inter-war Hollywood Regency-style home in the hyper-prestigious St James Park Estate of Hawthorn listed this week. It’s on a small parcel relative to other neighbours in the ‘hood.  The St James Park Estate’s most desirable streets are Coppin Grove and Shakespeare Grove that together form a loop hugging the Yarra River with properties cascading down to the riverfront. Sales on these two streets contain some of Melbourne’s most expensive sales; dare I say an even higher concentration of sales over $8m+ than in any other pocket of Melbourne, including Toorak - GASP!  Next-door neigbhour #33 sold for $8.8m in Nov 2011; #24 for $9m in Sep 2010; #21 for $10.75m in Jul 2002; #12 for $17m in Jul 2011; and over on Shakespeare Grove we, of course, have the famous $20.25m sale of #20 back in Nov 2009 that sent the whole property world abuzz. But we digress, the featured property last traded hands for $600k in Apr 1992, a big price for that day. When the Radical Terrace tried to contact the listing agent for their current pricing expectations, we were told that by listing agents “at this stage of the campaign we would prefer to discuss not only the price but the many features this property has to offer.” We take that to mean that listing agents Mark Sutherland and James Tostevin don’t quite know how to price the property. Comps call for a high price, but few other neighbourhood properties sit on such a small parcel of land. Regardless, if the agents won’t price the property, we’ll do it for them: $5m. 31 Coppin Grove, Hawthorn

NSW

CAMPBELLTOWN DARLING POINT - A Mirvac display home with 4 bedrooms and 2 single-car garages listed with price hopes in the low-$4mils. The home last sold - we think - for $3.125m in May 2004; it was after that date that the owners voluntarily - we think - built the house that now stands. Diane Wilson and Michael Finger of Ray White Double Bay have the listing: 5B Hampden Ave, Darling Point

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DOUBLE BAY -Margie Blok’s early leak on a rare Double Bay waterfront listing came to market. Richardson & Wrench Double Bay agents Michael Dunn and Robynne Arnouts want $12m for the property; they’ll probably get it, too. 75 Bay Street, Double Bay

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WOOLLAHRA - A rare 1860s terrace on Woollahra village’s desirable Holdsworth Street emerged on the market with low-$3mil hopes. That price is testament to its central location and two car spots and not of the interior condition of the home, which ain’t too pretty. The home last sold for $430k in 1990. Kim Jones and Kate McCullagh of Di Jones have the listing: 95 Holdsworth Street, Woollahra

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TERRIGAL - A “penthouse” unit in the “Star of the Sea” apartment block in Terrigal reduced its price expectations from “over $2.9m” to $2.78m. It last sold for $2.3m in 2004 and is as character-less as one would expect given its location. Even more surprising than the high asking price is the precedent for apartments over $2m in the block. We don’t get it. Belinda Harris of Century 21 has the listing: 51/8 Terrigal Esplanade, Terrigal

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REDFERN - A derelict terrace with (an illegal?) car space came on the market with a $670k ask. It’s on a tiny lot, looks directly at railroad tracks, and is situated in the heart of Redfern’s infamous “The Block” (no, not the over-reported television show). Nonetheless, any inner city terrace with a sub-$750k price is worth taking a look. Dominick Kuneman and Brigitte Blackman of BresicWhitney have the listing: 11 Woodburn Street, Redfern

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CLONTARF - A four-bedroom home that’s undergone a hefty Balinese-meets-something-else renovation since selling to the current owners for $1.925m in May 2000 is now on the market for $4.5m. It’s not a big price when considering the past sale price in 2000 and it’s perceived capital value improvements. It is a big price when you realize it’s not on the water. Then again, next door neighbour 5 Russell Street achieved exactly $4.5m when it sold in September 2010, perhaps that’s the comp agent David Rothschild of LJ Hooker Seaforth is using? The listing: 3 Russell Street, Clontarf

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POTTS POINT - Previously featured 3/1A Wylde Street in Potts Point now has more photos to perv on. That’s all. Check ‘em out here.

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SYDNEY - A rare north-facing unit in the prestigious 1923 block ‘The Astor’ came to market this week with a $3.35m price tag. The 11th floor unit has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a car spot. Even more special? The kitchen seems slightly more spacious than most other units in ‘The Astor.’ When The Astor was first constructed, apartments only had a butler’s pantry as the block featured its own communal dining room, much the way New York City apartment blocks did in their nascent days. Richard Cooper of McGrath Eastern Suburbs has the listing: 1101/123 Macquarie Street

Radical Roundup: New & Notable This Week

NSW

• A 4-bedroom, two-storey, 530sqm Mcmahons Point penthouse listed with high-$6m expectations. Last sold for $6.5m (presumably off-the-plan) in Nov 2005, Martin Schiller of Savills will have to break that amount to present his clients from being price losers. The listing: 2/16 Bay View Street, Mcmahons Point.

• Another “cute” home, ‘Yorkfleet’, an 1886 on over 2 acres of well-established gardens in Burradoo’s blue-chip ‘Golden Triangle’, listed this week for $3.5m. The home sits on a battleaxe block of land down a long driveway from Osbourne Road in a pocket of the Southern Highlands considered the most desirable for smaller properties under a few acres; properties routinely trade above $3m; the record being the $5.6m sale of 93 Burradoo Rd back in 2005. Highlands Property has the listing: 87 Osborne Road.

• ‘Oybin’, an 1880 Victorian Italianate villa on Annandale’s Johnston Street designed by C.H.E. Blackmann is listed with $2.6m+ expectations through Jennifer Aaron. The home is owned by a Blackmann enthusiast, according to Margie Blok, who wrote an interesting write-up on the property earlier this week. The listing: 270 Johnston Street, Annandale

• A well-renovated Craftsman home in Newcastle’s bluechip suburb of Merewether listed earlier this week with a $3.5m asking price. Last time this home was on the market, it came with a $2.5m ask but sold for $200k more in July 2009. There have only been a handful of homes to sell above $3m in Merewether, most of which are clustered closer to the water on John Parade, Lloyd Street, or Scenic Drive. However, the featured home at 26 Rowan Crescent sits on high ground with northeast facing ocean views, is across the street from a popular park, and has a large 1,309sqm parcel of land. The Merewether record for a conventional home (not a development opportunity or block of flats) is the $3.6m Dec 2007 sale of 39 Scenic Drive, one of Merewether’s largest homes. David Phelan of Dalton Partners has the listing: 26 Rowan Crescent, Merewether.

• We always feel sorry for Palm Beach homes that remain listed during the winter time. If it couldn’t sell in the glory months, why don’t they just quietly remove the listing and wait for the temperatures and interest to climb in the spring? Enter 19 Thyra St. The 4-bedroom, 1-bath waterfront has taken a novel photographic approach to advertising the Palm Beach lifestyle: these creepy-ass bugs. What’s going on? For $1.9m+, we’d expect Noel Nicholson and Amethyst McKee of LJ Hooker Palm Beach to offer photos a bit less cringe-worthy. 19 Thyra Street, Palm Beach

VIC

• A derelict end-terrace on the ever-desirable Beaconsfield Parade in Albert Park listed this week with an indicative asking price of $2.5m+. The home last sold in Apr 2009 for $2.0m and, considering it still looks like a health hazard, I’d venture to say the current owner is treating the property as a land bank. Gerald Betts and Simon Jones of RT Edgar Albert Park have the listing: 113 Beaconsfield Parade, Albert Park

• A uniquely situated mid-century home on the bluff above Jacksons Creek in Gisborne listed this week for $2m. The home sits on an especially large parcel of land in a desirable precinct on the far outskirts of Melbourne. Lindsay Hill and Annette Travers of Bennison Mackinnon have the listing: 171 Panorama Drive, Gisborne

SA

• Here’s an exceptionally odd listing. For $1.4m, you can purchase 140 hectares of land in the southern suburbs of Adelaide in Hallett Cove. The land is on 5 titles and includes “beautiful landscapes, wildlife, and scattered with ruins from the Worthing mine site of the 1850s.” Field River Valley is listed through Brett McCammon of Phil McMahon Real Estate has the listing. Something tells me this property will be converted to use as a paintball skirmish site.