Melbourne auctions: 'Dilapidated' Armadale home sells under the hammer for $5.8m

An Armadale home with vines growing through one of the bedrooms and a boarded-up hole in the dining room floor has sold under the hammer for $5.8 million – $1.4 million more than the price guide.

The dilapidated home at 62 Rose Street, one of the suburb’s most sought-after streets, was listed with a price guide of $4m to $4.4m.

SOLD - $5,800,000

62 Rose Street, Armadale VIC 3143

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Listing agent Grant Samuel from Kay & Burton South Yarra said he was “absolutely flabbergasted and delighted” by the result.

He said the auction, held on Thursday evening, was an unreserved sale, meaning the home would be sold to the highest bidder regardless of price.

The auction opened with a vendor bid of $4 million and at that point “the property was declared on the market for an unreserved sale of $4 million”, he said.

Six active bidders took part in the twilight auction for the large brick home, which was built in 1905 and held the same family since 1908.

A member of the family had been living in the home until quite recently.

The winning bidders were a local family looking to upsize in the area. They plan to spend the next three years renovating the run-down property, which sits on 919 square metres and is subject to strict heritage overlays.

Mr Samuel said the extraordinary result reflected the strength in Melbourne’s property market as well as the shortage of stock across the city.

“Despite the well-documented challenges of the property, with its strict heritage classification and the dilapidated condition, the strength of the current market was on full display with this result,” he said.

He said the agency ran a longer-than-usual campaign to allow interested parties the extra time needed to consult with council, town planners, heritage consultants, architects and builders due to the poor condition and the stringent A2 heritage grading.

“There were quite a few restrictions in terms of what the purchasers could do. They needed to keep the facade and they needed to keep four of the five chimneys, which created some barriers for anyone who wanted to create a second storey,” he said.

Given this, Mr Samuel said he was surprised by the amount of interest in the home.

“We thought there would be a lot more people who would just put it in the too-hard basket … I think the fact that they didn’t really reflects the scarcity of stock that’s currently on the market and also the rare opportunity that this home, despite its challenges, provided,” he said.

“This was the first time the home had been on the market in over 100 years … and it’s fair to say it’s been quite some time since a property like this has come on to the market around here.

“We are absolutely flabbergasted and delighted with the result, as are the vendors.

“And so are the buyers. They’ve probably got a three-year project ahead of them and I dare say they probably won’t be celebrating Christmas there until 2025.”