'Renovation opportunities' in Melbourne selling for more than $1 million

They are marketed as “blank canvases” with plenty of “potential”, but no one is getting into these dumps on the cheap.

Melbourne’s humble working cottages of yesteryear are now selling for upwards of seven figures, before anyone has even picked up a paintbrush.

Sharehouses, unliveable hovels and houses once home to squatters – all in dire need of repairs and renovation – are hitting the market for as much as $1.4 million. 

But agents say the triple-A inner-city locations are reason enough to hang a million dollar price tag from the decaying facades. 

That was evident in Richmond earlier this year, when a derelict former Richmond brothel sold for $1.1 million. The auction for the boarded-up terrace included a warning from agents about the possibility of stumbling across used syringes in the property. And earlier this month, a tiny rundown single-fronted terrace on one of Melbourne’s busiest roads, described by the agent as borderline liveable, sold for $846,000.

The trend has hit its speak north of the border; a tin shed in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Glebe sold at auction for $1.69 million last November.

And now even more eyesores are chasing the big bucks. A crumbling Prahran cottage was recently listed on Wrights Terrace, with agents hoping to see up to $1.4 million when the gavel falls at auction next month. It has been held by the same family since the 1930s, with little to no improvements being made to the home in that time.  

The share house, which is on less than 200-square metres of land, has a heritage overlay so buyers will have to fall in love with more than just the prime Prahran land holding. And yet listing agent Lachie Fraser-Smith, of Jellis Craig, said the million dollar dump had already had plenty of interest. 

“I’ve had a number of young tradies looking for themselves and some diehard people who just love to do renos,” Mr Fraser-Smith said. “Of course there has been a few people who’ve said, ‘this is just a bit too much work for us.”

In Richmond, a Victorian that was once inhabited by squatters, does not have the same overlay restrictions. Owned by the same family for generations but left empty for years, Nelson Alexander’s Arch Staver said the home needs “a hell of a lot of work”.

But Mr Staver said the corner block and the location near Bridge Road justifies the $1 million to $1.1 million being guided for the three bedder.

“You’re buying improvable home in an unimprovable location,” he said.

And in Newport, a heritage protected, dilapidated weatherboard could go for up to $900,000 when it goes to auction at the end of the month, although listing agent Nathan Gleeson of Jas Stephens said it was hard to price the property, given there was no home in comparable condition in that part of Newport. The past owner, who had moved there when he was two, had lived there up until last year.

Just a few hundred metres to the bay, Mr Gleeson said there was a possibility new owners could build up for water views, but would have to work with council around the heritage protections. He said the project would undoubtedly be “a big job.”

Next door, a similar property that has undergone a full renovation, is worth about $1.5 million, Mr Gleeson said.