AFL Victoria: The most incredible homes in your team’s suburb
Battler roots have sprouted high-end conversions in traditional working class AFL heartlands — and in the traditionally affluent, it’s a whole other ball game. SEE ALL THE PICTURES.
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Footy fans will pack pubs, stadiums and lounge rooms with the return of the AFL, but homeownership in their team’s suburban heartland has stretched way out of reach for most.
Collingwood and Richmond’s battler roots have sprouted high-end overhauls, with some of Melbourne’s most incredible homes now sprawling behind old worker’s cottage facades.
The median house price is only less than $1m in two Victorian AFL club suburbs or cities: Footscray at $958,750 and the Greater Geelong region at $750,000.
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Premiership-poaching Melbourne also arguably rules the roost when it comes to real estate, with the suburb of East Melbourne near the ‘G having the biggest median at $3.1m — and “the largest whole-floor apartment in the southern hemisphere” currently for sale for $30m.
Hawthorn is no stranger to Grand Finals and has more premiership-worthy real estate than any other Victorian club, with the second highest median house price of $2,667,500.
Some of the most expensive and extravagant houses in Victoria are in Hawthorn, with 21 Coppin Grove trading for $40.5m last year — and nearby Avon Court on Shakespeare Grove taken off the market after a stint with a similar price guide of $38m-$41.8m in September.
Incredible mansions hide behind high fences in the suburbs everyday Victorians cheer on passionately each weekend, with many home to surprisingly stately abodes.
Rannoch House, at 50B Skene St in the Geelong suburb of Newtown, is on the market for a staggering $11m-$12m that easily places it at the city’s very top end.
Whitford director Dale Whitford said the eight-bedroom pad on 2400sq m had been a 27-year labour of love for the vendors to restore.
“The 20-person dining table is the table on which the separation of New South Wales and Victoria was signed, to give you an idea of the history and style of the place,” he said.
Nelson Alexander Essendon managing partner Paul Harrison has sold some of the suburb’s finest homes — including Brownlow medallist Greg Williams’ palatial pad that looks over the Bombers’ spiritual home Windy Hill at 34 Brewster St for $6.85m in 2018 — and said families did not want to leave the suburb so remained as they traded up the real estate ladder.
“When you look at the history it was mayors and more established families, the more affluent, that were building those homes,” he said of Essendon’s top-end origins.
Footscray great Steve Wallis notched an Essendon record with the sale of 36 Leslie Rd in the vicinity of $8.5m last year, while Hamish Blake and Zoe Foster Blake’s Richmond home at 79A Rowena Pde owns the record price for Tigerland at $7.435m after their move to Sydney.
See the best homes in each Victorian AFL club’s suburb below.
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ESSENDON
Median house price: $1.77m
41 Leslie Rd, sold $8m (May 2018)
34 Brewster St, sold $6.85m (October 2018)
33 Tweedside St, sold about $6.3m (December 2021)
COLLINGWOOD
Median house price: $1.215m
Victoria and Vine penthouse, sold $7.5m (2019)
6 Oxford St, sold $6.1m (2017)
10/115 Oxford St, sold $2.38m (July 2018)
CARLTON
Median house price: $1.485m
22 Pitt St, sold $6.33m (May 2021)
179 Drummond St, sold $5.46m (March 2018)
12 Grattan St, sold $4.706m (November 2021)
NORTH MELBOURNE
Median house price: $1.2m
21 Elm St, sold $3.82m (December 2021)
17 Curran St, sold $3.03m (November 2021)
10 Canning St, sold $2.92m (September 2016)
WESTERN BULLDOGS
Median house price (Footscray): $958,750
906/1 Moreland St, sold $2.55m (December 2021)
63 Ballarat Rd, sold $2.2m (March 9, 2022)
60 Bunbury St, sold $1.804m (sold March 2021)
HAWTHORN
Median house price: $2,667,500
21 Coppin Grove, sold $40.5m (May 2021)
20 Shakespeare Grove, listed $38m-$41.8m (September 2021)
32 Coppin Grove, sold $11m (November 2017)
RICHMOND
Median house price: $1,471,250
79A Rowena Pde, $7.435m (March 2021)
207 Lennox St, sold $5.13m (May 2015)
10 Erin St, sold $4.66m (August 2020)
ST KILDA
Median house price: $1.68m
113 Wellington St, sold $6.7m (May 2021)
11 St Leonards Ave, sold $6.301m (August 2020)
15 Robe St, sold $5.5m (July 2019)
GEELONG
Median house price (Greater region): $750,000
50B Skene St, Newtown priced at $11m-$12m
56-58 Eastern Beach Rd, $5m (December 2012)
48 Eastern Beach Rd, $4m (April 2018)
MELBOURNE
Median house price (East Melbourne): $3.1m
1101/150 Clarendon St, East Melbourne, listed $30m
50 Hotham St, East Melbourne: sold $12m (September 2017)
188 George St, East Melbourne: sold $10.2m (September 2013)
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