As you may be aware the market overall has eased a little for all homes and has eased a little bit more for homes in need of Tender loving care. That does not mean that there is no market for good quality properties in need of renovation. A good example is 4 Brook Street Hawthorn which was sold on the weekend under the hammer for $2.2m with four bidders. I went through this house earlier in the week and it found it to have a mixture of plusses and minuses. On the plus side ornate rooms with  tall ceilings, on the negative side south facing rear next to a block of flats. In the end $2.2m was a fair result as it would have got more without the negatives but it still sold well via a James Tostevin Marshall White campaign.

Another property I visited prior to auction was at 2 Lytton Street Kew. It sold on Saturday in excess of $3.2m and in my opinion this was a very strong price for the seller, and Nick Elmore from Jellis Craig is to be congratulated on the final result. The house itself was a 1980’s post- modern style in a good position with a north facing rear however it had a dysfunctional floor plan with numerous internal and external steps. It was not obvious to me how this dated house could be improved with anything other than the help a bulldozer. for essentially land value was , Considering the sale of a similar block size in the same street sold for under $3m in the peak of the market last year, the final result of $3.235m is evidence of a good selling result.