Character homes in prime “gentrified” locations in West End and New Farm have sold for significant sums, in what can be considered a testament as to how urbanisation, the passage of time, and a great location can spell good fortune and serendipity when it comes to the value of one’s real estate.
A West End cottage located on 29 Daventry Street, in its first appearance on the market in 30 years, has sold for an impressive $2.03 million when it was sent to auction among seven registered bidders last February 18, easily making it Brisbane’s top sale of that week.
The character home’s strong selling point was the property’s footprint, covering 1,038 square metres on two blocks of blue-chip West End land. “Once you start talking about blocks like these ones it’s the top end of the buyer pyramid,” George Balandinos, real estate agent of Drakos Real Estate says. “It’s a unique property 1,038sq m. It was actually on two titles which lent itself to many options for the purchaser who could live in the house and subdivide up to 500sq m off … A block of (subdivided) land on a quiet street like that is worth a lot and 500sq m is a big block in West End.”
Similar Sales at New Farm and South Brisbane
The West End sale comes three months after a similar seven-figure sale in New Farm, where a worker’s cottage located on 227 Kent Street fetched $1.6 million, in its first sale in 50 years. The cottage, which was in its original condition, sits on 506 square metres of prime property, in a quiet neighbourhood that’s within walking distance of James Street and less than 2 kilometres from Brisbane’s CBD.
In November last year, a three-bedroom cottage on 42 Mollison Street in the South Brisbane/West End precinct sold for $1.4 million. Situated adjacent to The Markets shopping complex and around a kilometre away from the Southland Parklands and Brisbane City Business Centre, that sale was the first in what has now become a three-peat of million-dollar sales of inner city cottages.
Both the New Farm and South Brisbane properties are within easy walking distance of the city’s retail, hospitality and market precincts, and are in excellent school catchment areas — things that buyers look for when considering to purchase.
As the real estate maxim goes, “Location is everything.” Given these three seven-figure sales, it would certainly appear to be so.
Photo Credit: All photos are from www.realestate.com.au