It's been 30 years since Canberra's first million-dollar sale

It’s November 1988, and people are whistling along to the No. 1  song Don’t Worry Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin on the drive to the Canberry Fair.

It was a big month for the ACT, with the territory self-government acts granted royal assent.

In the property market, the capital also recorded its first $1 million residential sale.

Monday marked 30 years since the Canberra property milestone.  

The home at 18 Monaro Crescent, Red Hill was sold for $1 million by Peter Blackshaw, in the first year of his newly founded agency, on Saturday, November 19, 1988.

The residence, named Brackenreg, was designed in 1928 by renowned architect Kenneth Oliphant, the man behind some of Canberra’s most recognisable architecture and landmarks such as Calthorpe’s House. It was specially built for Mr J.C. Brackenreg – the first Land Officer in Canberra.

Another iconic name also left their mark on the property. Mr Thomas Weston, the first Superintendent of Parks and Gardens and Weston Creek’s namesake, did the landscaping. It was the only private garden Mr Weston designed in his time.

Archived marketing material described the home as “a residence of traditional character set on an extraordinarily large block (approx. two acres).

“The garden is immense and includes an orchard of various fruit trees.

“Privacy is provided by mature trees along the boundaries.

“Brackenreg offers incomparable potential for restoration and extension.”

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While the sale took place 18 months prior to Peter Blackshaw Manuka agent Andrew Chamberlain joining the agency, he remembers the buzz that was in the air.

Mr Chamberlain said it was a remarkable milestone, which proved hard to replicate for the next decade.

“While million-dollar sales are now commonplace, they were quite a big deal for even the 10 years after 1988,” he said.

“Even as recently as 1998, there was not a single sale in the million-dollar range that year.”

Canberra’s first multimillion dollar sale did not occur until 2000 – that home is now on the market again.

The most expensive sale ever recorded in Canberra was on the capital’s Golden Mile, at 27 Mugga Way, which sold for $7.3 million in 2010.

But according to Mr Chamberlain, the $10 million milestone is not far off.

“If you take into account the unimproved land value and the number of improvements that have taken place, there are certainly a number of properties where the total investment of the buyer well exceeds $10 million,” he said.

“In some respects, you could argue there are homes above that price point but they have just not come to market yet.”

While it was home to Canberra’s first million-dollar sale, Monaro Crescent has not reached the level of sales seen on other prestigious streets such as the Golden Mile, which spans the southern border of Forrest and continues through to Red Hill for almost 3.5 kilometres,  or Melbourne Avenue – where multimillion sales are the norm, not the exception.

The block at 18 Monaro Crescent was subdivided, and in 2004 one of the blocks sold for $2.27 million – the most expensive sale to date on the street. There’s only been one other multimillion dollar sale, at number 30 in 2005 for $2.06 million.

According to Domain Group data, 18 Monaro Crescent was resold in 1992 at a loss for $800,000.

Last year, one of the blocks at 18 Monaro Crescent came to market but was withdrawn.