$3m dump: Brisbane’s worst homes commanding top dollar

Brisbane’s property market is so hot that even its most rundown homes fetch top dollar, with one of the highest prices coming in at $3m this year.

93 Little Chester St, Teneriffe

Brisbane’s property market is so hot that even its worst, most rundown homes fetch top dollar, with one of the highest prices pushing past $3m for a mega fixer-upper this year.

As land becomes more scarce within Brisbane, even houses in their worst condition ever are bringing in millions of dollars for owners, led by a massive $3.003m price landed by a dilapidated cottage in Teneriffe – only about $100,000 short of the suburb’s median house price.

The house at 93 Little Chester St, Teneriffe, was sold by Ray White Clayfield principal Nicholas Given with development approval. “Having personally lived in Little Chester Street for three years, I wish I was in a position to buy it. This is a true cottage with the best view on the hill,” was how he described it. “It’s hard to ignore the sheer value this cottage represents. Very rarely does an original cottage with city views become available.”

Cashed up buyers concerned only about getting into a good location are many across Brisbane, hunting right through to December when Drew Davies of Place Ascot sold 24 Lonsdale Street, Ascot, for $2.1m.

Only a decade ago, that type of price tag could only be fetched by luxury homes across the Queensland capital – not crumbling cottages.

24 Lonsdale Street, Ascot, sold for $2.1m on December 11.

Mr Davies marketed the house with colleague Bryce Osborne, saying it was hard to find a worse property in a great suburb. The deceased estate sale was recognised by buyers as a prime opportunity to secure a piece of one of the city’s prestige suburbs, with the 577sq m block on sale for the first time ever.

Even rarer opportunities to buy dilapidated houses on the river also brought out the big budget buyers this year, with 51 Mcconnell Street, Bulimba, selling for $2.781m.

It was a major win-win situation for buyer and seller, with Ray White Bulimba agent Scott Darwon confirming the hone “has demolition approval on it from council so it will be knocked down”.

“It’s extremely rare to find anything that’s classified as unliveable on the river but also what’s rare is brand new architectural product, the majority are between 10 and 20-year-old renovations.”

With demand continuing to rise, even investment homes trashed by feral tenants are landing strong prices in Brisbane’s cheapest areas – with one even breaking a national record in the process.

51 McConnell Street, Bulimba

Cory Boyd of Ray White Marsden AKG and colleague Keron Petzer delivered an Australian auction record when they registered over 160 bidders for a trashed house at 16 Billabong Drive, Crestmead which sold at the end of October for $494,700 to an interstate investor.

Mr Boyd said the majority of bidders for rundown houses in lower priced suburbs generally didn’t give notice, simply turning up on the day, with many looking for opportunities for “dual occupancy, a lot of mum and dad renovators, house flippers, a few that want to buy and hold on for the land”.

Demand continued to be strong in the segment he said, going on to sell another house with “broken bones” at 16 Forestglen Crescent, Browns Plains, for $540,000 at the end of November.

Suburbs where prices sit around Brisbane’s median house price were also seeing buyers snap up any rundown house that pops up on the market, including 36 Cross Street, Mitchelton, which sold for $705,000 at the end of September.

Agent Haydn Denovan of Denovans Real Estate Mitchelton described the property as “a diamond in the rough”, with buyers clamouring for such knockdown rebuild opportunities offered when post-war houses “in a state of disrepair” hit the market.

Originally published as $3m dump: Brisbane’s worst homes commanding top dollar