The Redfern coming-of-age renovation to rival Paddington's terrace crown

If there is a sign that the gentrification of Redfern is complete, it might be the influx over recent years of traditional Paddington house hunters in search of what The Agency’s Ben Collier calls “the Paddo of 30 years ago”.

Take the rows of historic homes on tree-lined streets in a village setting a short walk from cafes and parks and you have Paddington. Add a dash of edgy inner-city life and you have Redfern in 2020.

Hot on the heels of the Paddington house hunters have come the high-end home renovators.

Indeed one of Paddington’s bestselling terraces of 2017 for $7.1 million was a striking Victorian terrace redesigned by MCK Architects that was the inspiration for a similar redesign of a smaller Victorian terrace on arguably one of Redfern’s best streets.

What was a rundown terrace on 140 square metres and bought in 2017 for $2.1 million was subject to a 12- month DA process to a design by Daniel Kontista that included not only gutting the interiors, but extending the living space into the attic space and excavating below to create basement garaging for two cars with rare internal access. What was a standard two-storey terrace is now four storeys.

The rebuild of the Redfern mini-me took two years but remains reminiscent of the MCK Architects residence in Paddington, not only in the design fundamentals that redesigned the staircase as a dramatic feature in the centre of the house, but in the finishes.

Think exposed brick feature walls, black timber and rough-sawn Oregon panelling, and recessed lighting.

All that remains of the original house is seemingly the ornate facade and exposed brick walls.

A guide of $3.5 million by Collier at The Agency is indicative of Redfern’s broader appeal given it is comparably better value than similar stock in the eastern suburbs. But such value has been diminishing in recent years.

Paddington’s record high of $11.85 million set when the former Windsor Castle hotel sold five years ago is only marginally higher than the $11.5 million high of Surry Hills set in May when co-founder of startup Code Barrel Nick Menere and his partner Carli Dixon bought the landmark residence Italianate House.

And just as Surry Hills lured the Paddington shoppers, Redfern has not been far behind as more buyers target it as a trade-up destination, says Collier.

What has changed is that in decades past buyers bought in Surry Hills and Redfern as a stepping stone to the eastern suburbs. Think former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who bought another Victorian terrace on Redfern’s Great Buckingham Street in 1979 for $40,000 and sold it three years later for $85,000 when he was trading up to Bellevue Hill.

“Now the upmarket buyers in Redfern are coming here and they’re coming for the boutique cafes, bars and restaurants that once attracted buyers to Paddington,” says Collier.

Escape: Byron Bay

There will be no trips overseas for the European summer this year, while even Noosa and the rest of Queensland are off-limits for now, but there’s an upside to that, as Byron Bay vendors would know.

“We have seen no reduction in prices up here,” says sales agent Nick Dunn of McGrath. “But demand is far outstripping supply.”

It is a different story to last year when there were a few high-end houses languishing on the market in the prized Wategos Beach area, including the trophy home Whalewatchers, which was listed more than two years ago for $18.5 million to $20 million.

“Since COVID struck, things have gone crazy up here. Everyone wants to be in Byron Bay,” says art dealer Steve Nasteski, who bought Whalewatchers in the last days of 2019 for $12 million.

Dunn suspects it will most likely be a local to buy his latest prestige listing, a contemporary industrial style house on the edge of the Arakwal National Park.

The two-storey house was built a decade ago with an open-plan living area upstairs to make the most of the bushland views.