Melbourne auctions: Colourful Thornbury house of hair heir snapped up for $1.5 million

The colourful Thornbury home of Biba hair salon director Simon Divitaris sold under the hammer on Saturday for $1.5 million, after a short and sharp auction.

The heir to the Biba hair empire’s three-bedroom home at 121 Ballantyne Street, Thornbury, is a renovated, single-fronted detached Victorian. It has been extended at the back and features a rooftop garden outside the main bedroom.

The brick home is a stand-out for its varied and loud feature walls, one in nearly every room.

SOLD - $1,500,000

121 Ballantyne Street, Thornbury VIC 3071

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The main bedroom features a woodland creature wallpaper, while colourful tiles line the walls of the ensuite bathroom and bright geometric shapes adorn the dining room.

Mr Divitaris – the son of Biba’s founders and now an award-winning hairdresser and director of the business – said it was his wife Jess’s flair for design that led to the flamboyant choices.

“[That was] Jess my wife with her design savviness; she likes what she likes. It kind of evolved from the architect to Jess putting her touches on it,” he said. “We kind of let [the architect] have free reign on it – it just progressed from there.

“We like to go with the flow.”

The home was fun and light, and a joy to come home to, Mr Divitaris said. His three children, Wolfgang, Otto and Goldie, could come and go from the backyard to the courtyard and inside as they pleased, and loved living in the home, he added.

Bidding opened at $1.35 million, below the quoted price range of $1.37 million to $1.47 million. The auction stalled at $1.37 million, but after a break it took off.

A dozen rapid-fire $10,000 bids later, the price reached $1.5 million and sold to another family.

Nelson Alexander agent Robert Pierantozzi said the family had fallen in love with the home.

“They could see themselves living there as a family and that’s what really captured them. It was a home they could move into and not do anything,” he said.

“Well, maybe some colour changes so it was more their style, but all the major stuff was done for them,” he conceded.

“It’s always risky when you sell such unique homes because you don’t know how the market is going to react to them. They built this to their own taste.”

Mr Divitaris said they never planned to sell the home but found as their family grew, they had outgrown the three-bedder. Reselling it had not crossed their minds during the build, and they hoped it would resonate with another family.

“Potentially, this was our forever home. We were never thinking we were going to sell it,” he said. “It’s not going to suit someone who likes black and grey and chrome.”

It was one of 463 auctions held in Melbourne on Saturday.

It was a quiet weekend for auctions given the school holidays and winter period, but it comes as sentiment has been picking up, with Melbourne prices tipped to rise by the end of the year in Domain’s latest property price forecasts.

Later in Middle Park, a two-bedroom apartment changed hands, with two investors looking to secure the keys.

The home was already an investment property, with its owner making $59,000 in capital growth since buying it last June. The unit had been recently renovated.

SOLD - $730,000

4/70 Patterson Street, Middle Park VIC 3206

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Bidding opened at $675,000, just below the quoted price range of $680,000 to $720,000.

In another quick auction it sold for $730,000 – $30,000 over reserve.

McGrath St Kilda director Michael Townsend said the apartment appealed to investors.

“The property has the best formula for an investment property,” he said. “Small block, outdoor space, an off-street car space on title, strata title and a non-arterial street, so not a major road.”

Mr Townsend said in the height of the property boom it would have run much further over reserve.

“In boom times it could have run 20 to 30 per cent above reserve,”  he said. “This is a fair price for both the buyer and seller.”