They’re not fancy – but they’re cheap(ish): Perth’s biggest fixer-uppers of 2024

This year marked a trend of real estate agents binning traditional sales tactics and delivering a warts-and-all pitch to attract buyers to throw down cash on challenging fixer-uppers.

Hideous bathrooms, used medical equipment and zombie pools may not be appealing to some, but other buyers were not deterred as they battled to put a roof over their heads in the tiny pool of property in Perth and WA’s regions.

This run-down property in Coolgardie sold for the price of a car. Credit: Domain

A four-bedroom, one-bathroom home in Coolgardie sold in January for just $56,000 was one of the cheapest homes sold in Western Australia this year. The median sale price for the Goldfields town is $171,000.

The home came complete with used medical equipment, was partly furnished with an array of junk, featured a lime green bathroom – and even includes a free car.

Meanwhile, a dishevelled 1970s Armadale home on a 700-square-metre block on Braemore Street sold for $10,800 in 1993. It sold in March for $360,000 and attracted 30 offers.

Mark Grogan, from O’Neil Real Estate, said the run-down three-bedroom, one-bathroom brick home with an asbestos roof was in serious need of gutting. It sold for $580,000 in May and two weeks later fetched $595 a week in rent.

“It’s not a pretty house, nothing works, and it doesn’t have a kitchen or a toilet,” he said.

“Someone thought about doing a renovation but then decided to not. Someone thought about not cleaning it and stuck hard to that idea.

“It needs a full renovation, but on a block this big it’s worth making it happen.”

A property in Girrawheen with a “zombie pool” and garden was under offer before the first home open.

Strategic Property Group managing director Trent Fleskens said it was hard to deceive the public.

“Calling a spade a spade builds trust and integrity,” he said.

“I would encourage more agents to be as clear and accurate as possible when marketing their ugly ducklings, as it will attract the most relevant buyer as soon as possible.”

Fleskens said given the continual undersupply of property in Perth through 2024, it was unlikely that many buyers would be remorseful of their recent purchase, with prices expected to continue to rise into 2025.

“However, if there was one market that has certainly seen growth levels that are unsustainable into the future, it would be the affordable, older stock segment of the market,” he said.

“My expectation is that, as interest rates drop next year, we will see a migration of the buyer pool from these markets towards more desirable suburbs. Whilst I don’t expect wholesale drops in value, I do expect a significant softening of price growth at the bottom of the market, moderating the unbridled growth in the past two years.”

Since the pandemic, Perth has dominated investor hit-lists, but the capital was notably absent on the latest Hotspotting Top 10 National Best Buys report, which named Australia’s top property investment hotspots for 2025.

Darwin and Melbourne made unexpected appearances on the list.

Hotspotting director Terry Ryder said the best buys for next year includes locations with plenty of long-term growth potential.

“We haven’t included any locations that are already hot, which is why there are no Perth, Adelaide or many of the frenzied regional markets in Queensland included,” he said.

Ryder said that despite recent underperformance, Melbourne and Darwin were set to rebound next year due to their relative affordability compared to other capitals.

“Melbourne faced challenges in 2023 and 2024, but it’s poised for a comeback next year,” he said.

“Its price gap with Sydney and high population growth, despite high state taxes and ongoing governance issues, make it an attractive prospect.”