Singer Julia Stone’s St Kilda East unit sells after auction for $925,000

ARIA-award winning singer Julia Stone has offloaded her St Kilda East investment property after auction for $925,000 on Saturday, to another investor who has plans to live in the unit.

Stone is one half of the eponymous indie duo, Angus & Julia Stone, with her brother; the pair won a slew of ARIA awards in 2010 for their album, Down The Way, and its third single, Big Jet Plane.

SOLD - $925,000

2/85 Westbury Street, St Kilda East VIC 3183

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The two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit at 2/85 Westbury Street had been renovated by the singer, and had been rented out since 2022. It was in a small art deco building and featured a modern style.

Marshall White agent Matthew Grima listed the home for sale with a quoted price range of $880,000 to $940,000. He said the auction began with a vendor bid of $890,000, which was followed by a single bid of $900,000.

It was passed in to the sole bidder, who increased their offer by $25,000 to secure the home. Grima would not disclose the reserve.

“Buyers loved the private courtyard, the renovations that Julia had undertaken and the period nature of it,” he said. “Private courtyards of that size don’t fall off trees. It’s a good result, but it’s not a showstopper either.”

The buyer would use the unit as an investment in the short term, but planned to move in, Grima said.

It was one of 1007 auctions scheduled for Saturday.

In Frankston North, a well-renovated house sold for $54,000 more than its reserve price after a hot auction.

The three-bedroom house at 21 Honeysuckle Street featured double-glazed windows, central heating, refrigerated cooling and a large garage with a pit in the floor, which could be used for maintaining vehicles.

SOLD - $674,000

21 Honeysuckle Street, Frankston North VIC 3200

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O’Brien agent Mark Bourke listed the property for sale with a quoted price range of $585,000 to $638,000. He said bidding began at $590,000, and four buyers traded about 40 bids.

“I think we had about eight registered bidders but when they saw it was going good they all disappeared,” he said.

The reserve price was $620,000 and the house sold to an owner-occupier for $674,000.

Bourke said one bidder was an investor. “We’re seeing investors coming into Victoria from Sydney and Brissy in the last two to three weeks,” he said. “Even though the land tax is a nasty thing, there’s a little bit more [investors]. It’s about 20 per cent of our buyers again when it was about 5 per cent.”