‘Pretty rough’: Big catch with $140,000 home

A Perth real estate agent has decided honesty is the best policy with a warts-and-all pitch on a rundown duplex.

A Perth real estate agent has decided honesty is the best policy with a warts-and-all pitch on a rundown duplex.

The three-bedroom, one-bathroom duplex in Camillo in southeastern Perth was sold in March for a measly $140,000.

It is the cheapest home sold there this year.

Mark Grogan offered up a blunt assessment of the property. Picture: O’Neill Real Estate

O’Neil Real Estate agent Mark Grogan did not mince words with the ad.

Admittedly he didn’t have much to work with — the property didn’t even have a front door.

“This is pretty rough folks,” he wrote.

“Pretty is generous because it’s ugly. Rough is being polite. Stuffed makes it sounds like a cuddly teddy bear … which it is not. Screwed makes it sound like things are still attached … which they are not. Get my point?”

He described property euphemistically as “delightfully airy” before nothing it needed a “new kitchen, bathroom, doors, windows, flooring and possibly other bits and pieces too”.

The home needed a new everything. Picture: O’Neill Real Estate

Mr Grogan told news.com.au the property owner who snapped it up on March 31 had “plenty of vision”.

“My guess is it will be about $75,000 to get it back to a home and would sell for about $320,000 in that location so there’s money to be made.”

Mr Grogan described the Perth property market as “incredible” at the moment.

According to PropTrack, homes in the west are experiencing a new peak, with prices increasing 0.64 per cent in May and 4.21 per cent in the past year.

PropTrack’s Eleanor Creagh said Perth was the Australia’s “strongest-performing capital city market year-to-date”.

Median house prices now sit at $571,000 making Perth the cheapest city market in terms of dwelling values.

Aside from Perth, the rebound in housing prices nationally is accelerating despite the Reserve Bank’s aggressive interest rate increases.

‘It will be about $75,000 to get it back to a home.’ Picture: O’Neill Real Estate

National home prices have increased 0.33 per cent in May, bringing the 2023 rise to 1.55 per cent according to PropTrack’s latest house price index.

Every capital city except Darwin recorded an increase last month.

All regional markets rose too except for regional NSW and regional Victoria.

Ms Creagh said “market conditions have improved following five consecutive months of price growth, driven by stronger housing demand relative to stock on market”.

“Despite many cities being at peak levels, future interest rate rises and the slowing of the economy could weigh on home prices in the next few months,” she said.

“However, the continued tightness in the labour market, stronger housing demand and the limited supply environment are likely to support an ongoing recovery.”

— with NCA NewsWire

Originally published as ‘Pretty rough’: Big catch with $140,000 home