Gross discovery inside house exposes nationwide crisis reality

A disgusting discovery has been made in a house that is shockingly for sale for four times its value from five years ago.

Pegged as a “must see” property and listed for a reasonable price — at least by 2025’s standards — was the house I thought could be my one big ticket into the housing market.

It was listed “from $399,000” and sat on a generous 862 square metres, with three bedrooms and one bathroom, and while it wasn’t in my preferred location (still at least 40 minutes from Perth’s CBD) I had made peace with needing to compromise.

Trying to buy a house as a millennial in Australia during a historic house price boom has felt near impossible, particularly in combination with the cost of living crisis, but I’ve tried to remain optimistic.

That optimism however, vanished almost immediately when I stepped foot inside a home on Dawson Street in Armadale, a suburb on the eastern fringes known for its high crime rate.

This house had a lot going on, including an overwhelming stench. Picture: YouTube/BrookoMoves

It wasn’t the stained brown/yellow walls, collapsed asbestos-filled ceilings, smashed windows or general inhabitable condition that turned me off the place.

It was the indescribable rancid odour that wafted through the hallways and reached full intensity in the main bathroom – it left me dry retching and weeping from the eyes.

The scent was like nothing I’d smelt in my life; it had a nose-piercing sourness to it that destroyed my appetite, spirit, hope, and the clothes I was wearing.

The bathroom needed serious help. Picture: YouTube/BrookoMoves

It had really seen some things. Picture: YouTube/BrookoMoves

Later when I was mingling outside, the smell was revealed to be likely “water … and death” by a woman who worked in a funeral home.

Her theory checked out based on the flooring having been ripped up in the area that smelt the worst, which was regulatory practice in Australia when someone died in a house.

If that wasn’t depressing enough, the grim vibe shockingly didn’t end there.

In a chat with the agent for my YouTube series Brooko Moves – created to highlight the impact of the housing crisis on Millennials – things only became more dire.

This fellow hopeful homeowner suspected the smell was the result of water and death. Picture: YouTube/BrookoMoves

He informed me that not only had he received several offers already, they were well above the asking price. To rub even more salt in the wound, he said it would have been worth about $100,000 five years ago.

The same house has just sold for $450,000, and lets be honest, probably needs to be demolished and built again.

“The market’s grown. We’ve had huge growth in Armadale and all of WA. Three or four years ago for an average three-by-one you’d pay $250,000-$300,000,” the agent told me.

“And now, for a three-by-one … our record last year was $688,000. So 40 per cent growth for Armadale.”

It comes down to the simple fact that a house is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it, and unfortunately for people like me, that figure just keeps getting bigger.

“It depends where the buyer sees value,” the agent said.

The ceiling had fallen in. Picture: YouTube/BrookoMoves

And it was loose cables galore. Picture: YouTube/BrookoMoves

This same trend is unfolding all over the country, where young people are copping blows not only from the housing crisis, but slow growth in wages and inflation.

Wages that would’ve previously allowed us to develop healthy savings while living in a nice rental and going on a holiday every so often, now only barely affords the essentials.

It does very much feel like fighting a losing battle, and it’s all the while many Boomers – the wealthiest generation ever produced in this country – continue to insist that the pathway into homeownership is as simple as cutting out expensive avocado brunches.

The truth is that for my parents’ generation, a home would’ve cost them three to four times their annual salary, but for mine, it’s more like 10-15.

It’s a grim time to be trying to get ahead – house prices in Perth spiked 17 per cent in one year alone and national wages, forecasted by the RBA late last year, were expected to drop in the coming two years.

While the odds certainly aren’t in my generation’s favour, I’m committed to finding my way into the property market one way or another, even if it takes a decade longer than it took my parents.