Home owned by Barry Humphries' brother sells for $2.485m at auction
A Hawthorn home saved from the wrecking ball by the brother of the comedian known as Dame Edna sold under the hammer at the weekend for $2,485,000.
The three-bedroom home at 43 Brook Street was sold as part of a deceased estate on behalf of Michael Humphries, who worked as a librarian at a Melbourne high school and was the younger brother of Barry Humphries.
The buyer was a former student at the school where Mr Humphries worked.
Mr Humphries had bought the home in Melbourne’s inner east, in the same street in which he lived, to save it from being torn down in the 1980s.
It had been used as a rental property and was in mostly original condition, selling agent Caroline Hammill, of Woodard Camberwell, said.
“The purchaser had only seen the property for the first time on the Friday before the auction,” Ms Hammill said. “My vendors, who were Michael Humphries’ sister and niece, were very touched that someone who knew Michael bought it. It was an emotional sale.”
Under competition from another seven registered bidders, the home sold well above the advertised price range of $1.9 million to $2 million.
The auction was one of 736 scheduled at the weekend in Melbourne – the first since coronavirus-related restrictions were eased to allow 50 people to attend an outdoor auction.
Melbourne’s preliminary auction clearance rate bounced to 72.6 per cent after 552 results were reported. There were 83 properties withdrawn from auction, which were counted as not sold and did not contribute to the clearance rate.
In Melbourne’s outer-northern suburbs, a home in Sunday Creek – north-east of Kilmore – sold for a suburb record $1.7 million under the hammer.
The unique home at 250 Smiths Lane, which included a man-made beach, was snapped up by a couple wanting to share a holiday home with their children and grandchildren.
Ray White Craigieburn’s Trish Orrico held an auction both on-site and online with five registered bidders signing up for a chance to buy.
One of the bidders was based in Sydney and the others were in Victoria. More than 40 groups had inspected the home before it went to auction, Ms Orrico said.
“Some were family buyers, others were looking for a holiday retreat away from their busy lives and others were tree changes, or sea changers wanting that amazing man-made beach that comes with the property,” Ms Orrico said. “There is nothing that’s sold for this much out here.”
The sellers, the Greco family – who were featured on TV shows because of the home – are now moving back to the Melbourne suburbs to be closer to family, she said.
The biggest reported result at the weekend was an auction at 7 Neath Street, Surrey Hills, in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
The modern, five-bedroom home sold for $4,005,000, significantly above the advertised range of $3.3 million to $3.6 million, to a woman from Cairns, whose friend bid on her behalf.
“She was originally from Melbourne and has kids going to local schools in Camberwell,” Fletchers Canterbury director and auctioneer Tim Heavyside said.
Three bidders fought it out for the keys, all of them families with young or teenage children, he said.
Thanks to the lifting of restrictions more buyers came out to public auctions at the weekend, although the strict rules were still being followed, Mr Heavyside said.
“I feel like there’s a freeing up in many ways including their wallets,” he said.
Mr Heavyside sold another home in Surrey Hills, although it attracted a different group of bidders.
The home at 7 Leura Street was snapped up by the property’s neighbour for $3.1 million.
He is now deciding what to do with the property, Mr Heavyside said.
The neighbour was one of four bidders at the auction, with competition pushing the sale price north of $2.7 million, at which the property was declared on the market.
“The buyers were mainly locals wanting to knock down and rebuild, the purchaser who bought it was the next door neighbour and is not sure what they are going to do.”
In Malvern, a four-bedroom home at 11 Shaftesbury Avenue, which was part of a deceased estate, was snapped up by a local couple.
They were one of 11 registered and five active bidders at the auction.
Land buyers and those wanting to renovate the home were the main people interested in the property, Belle Property Armadale’s Andrew James said.
The home sold for $2,913,000, against an advertised price range of $2.5 million and $2.75 million. The reserve was somewhere between the two figures, Mr James said.
The buyers are still deciding what to do with the property, but will be moving in before making any decisions to renovate or detonate the home, he said.
Mr James said the weekend was a confidence booster for agents and auctioneers who had previously only been allowed to hold auctions for 10 people.
“It’s really nice to be out working again,” Mr James said. “I’m just happy to be out working again regardless of what the rules and regulations are.”
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