Yarraville home without a kitchen sells for $1.16 million

A half-finished renovation job has not deterred two young couples from fighting it out at a Melbourne auction, even though the home they were bidding on did not have a kitchen.

The pair of young buyers pushed the price of the weatherboard in Hood Street, Yarraville, to $1,158,000 on Saturday.

The half-done property — on about 400 square metres of prime Yarraville land — was held for about 30 years by the same family who had grand plans to completely renovate the home, according to Jas Stephens listing agent Anna Grech.

After a change in personal circumstances for the vendors, the period home lay half renovated for several years before the weekend’s auction.

The front of the house had been fully painted, rewired and restumped, and the central bathroom had been completely made over with double basins and a clawfoot bath.

But the house was lacking what some might call an essential feature of a home, with the renovation not making its way to a kitchen before it went under the hammer. The floorplan featured just three bedrooms, a lounge, bathroom and laundry.

The kitchen had been demolished by the previous owners, but they had plans to install a dream kitchen.

However, Ms Grech said, the missing kitchen was not a concern to the buyers, who both planned to extend the back of the house anyway.

“It was blank canvas for someone,” she said.

“The location is very good, it’s between Yarraville Village and Seddon Village … houses in good locations will always attract buyers.”

The property had been marketed for about $950,000 but had been revised up to $985,000 in the last weeks of the campaign after so much interest was shown.

Ms Grech said she was surprised by how high the price went, but knew the land value of the wide block would draw competition.

The eventual buyer, a professional couple who lived locally, plan to add the extension — likely starting with the kitchen.