Space, heritage homes and convenience: why Artarmon is a magnet for families

If there is a wish list of features for the quintessential family home in Sydney it might read a little like this: level block, heritage facade, ornately finished bedrooms and a contemporary extension with open-plan living areas overlooking a backyard pool.

Throw in a good-sized lot of about 800 square metres in a heritage conservation neighbourhood and you have prime family home stock, says McGrath’s John McManus.

He should know. McManus has sold a large proportion of the 824 houses that have come up for sale in his patch of Artarmon.

And while the buyer profile remains fairly the same – think families who want both space for the kids within a relatively short commute of the CBD – getting the right house on the right street is often a waiting game.

“Buyers tend to be young families who come to Artarmon first, and then start looking around for the right house,” says McManus.

“It’s a bit like Mosman but without the traffic and with a railway line thrown in.”

It makes sense of why the median house price in Artarmon has more than doubled since 2013 when Domain data shows the median house price was $1.03 million. It is now $2.63 million.

And when McManus listed what he bills as one of the top 10 houses in the suburb earlier this month, a post-war bungalow on Muttama Road, he was not surprised to see strong buyer interest with a queue of about 40-odd groups to get into the first open inspection.

SOLD - $4,690,000

37 Muttama Road, Artarmon NSW 2064

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“The top houses are about getting the layout, the space, aspect and finishes right, and making sure they’re on the best streets,” McManus says.

And while the post-war bungalow on Muttama Road is ranked well by McManus today, it was not always deserving of star billing.

Today listed with a price guide of $3.8 million, it last traded in 2003 for $1.035 million as a two-bedroom house with what owner Susan Smith-Moore describes as a “tacky 1970s extension at the back”.

Five years later a major redesign recreated it into something far more contemporary. The original ornate facade and original bedrooms at the front were retained but the back half was opened up into a house that suits 2020.

“It’s the sort of layout that everyone wants because you can see the pool and living areas from the kitchen so no one is left out, but has separate spaces where kids and adults can retreat to when they need space,” says McManus.

Add in a separate formal lounge room, a home office, a parent’s retreat with en suite and walk-in wardrobe, and an outdoor dining area that effectively adds another living space thanks to a retractable roof, and there is expected to be good competition among an anticipated handful of buyers at the September 26 auction.