'No bathroom, no toilet, nothing': Sydney's cheapest house in 2016 sold for $350,000

As more of Sydney’s suburbs tick over into the million-dollar club, the modest brick homes in suburbia selling for record prices start to blur into one.

Meanwhile there’s been little discussion about what’s happening at the other end of the market – Sydney’s cheapest houses. 

After eliminating townhouses, villas and homes within a retirement village from the search, the result paints a grim picture for Sydney’s first-home buyers.

The cheapest house bought in Sydney on the open market last year was a brick-veneer home at 16 Hartog Avenue, Willmot – 50 kilometres west of Sydney’s CBD. Despite being in need of major work and lacking the basics you’d expect, the house sold for $350,000 after just three days on the market. That’s not much cheaper than Hobart’s median house price of $382,888.

“We didn’t even have the first open home,” said selling agent Khilen Patel.

“We put it on the market on Monday, on Tuesday we had private inspections for six buyers, on Wednesday it was sold.”

The house was in very poor condition. “It had no bathroom, no toilet, nothing. Not even gyprock on the walls.”

“The cladded homes in Wilmott go for around the $450,000 to $470,000 mark depending on the condition.”

Across the road, 7 Hartog Avenue sold for $400,000 in July 2016.

The median house price for Wilmott is $451,000, according to Domain Group data. Median house rents are $330 a week.

In this case the home sold to an investor who has fully renovated the property. Patel expects to get about $350 to $370 a week in rent. 

Willmot was ranked 518 out of 555 in Domain’s ranking of Sydney suburbs by liveability, scoring positive reviews for its open space, telecommunications coverage and bus services.

It was penalised for its lack of eating-out options, shops and distance to the beach.

It takes an hour and a half to get to the CBD in peak hour on public transport and it’s not much quicker to drive. It can also take between 35 and 55 minutes to drive to Parramatta.

Next on the list of cheapest properties – this time with a working bathroom and interior walls – is 38 Liddle Street in North St Marys, a neighbouring suburb to Mount Druitt. It sold for $352,500 in April last year.

The other cheapest Sydney houses sold in 2016:

Nearby 17 Tangaloa Crescent in Lethbridge Park sold for $368,000 in April 2016. It was leased for $320 a week in September 2016.

Number 47 Colbeck Street, Tregear sold for $370,000 in January 2016 – and again for $478,000 in November 2016, jumping $108,000 in 11 months, a 29 per cent increase.