Incredible price for Sydney home abandoned for 7 years
The lucky owner 'intended to come back to Sydney but didn't'.
It's been sitting idle for about seven years. And while the natural world has taken over, this inner city Sydney home is looking for someone to reclaim it – but despite the appearance, it doesn't come cheap.
The house sits in a quiet back street in Redfern and once belonged to the famous Aussie artist Peter Powdige who was at the forefront of Australian pop art in the 60s and 70s. But the current owner who purchased it from the artist more than 20 years ago hasn't done much with the home – at least not in the most recent decade.
"He pretty much locked the house up as I understand, and had all the intention of coming back but didn't," agent Shannan Whitney told Yahoo News Australia.
"Covid hit, a range of others things happened, he intended to come back to Sydney but didn't."
As a result, the property has "deteriorated quite considerably over that time," Mr Whitney said.
Despite the historically sharp rise in interest rates, prices in Sydney have been rebounding strongly due to low sales volumes. In fact prices are rising the fastest in NSW, up 4.7 per cent in the past three months, according to Corelogic data.
While this listing requires obvious work – and will likely be knocked down – it still comes with a price guide of $2.5 million with the agent expecting it to fetch somewhere between $2.5 million and $3 million on auction day.
Pictures of the home show it overrun with vines, with some walls almost entirely disintegrated.
"The freestanding dwelling sits on a double block of land totalling 270sqm," the listing says. "It's well past its prime and offers an opportunity to write its next phase."
No heritage limitations makes for 'unusual' opportunity, agent says
The house will need to be purchased by someone with "the capabilities and enthusiasm" to rebuild, but the lack of any heritage limitations makes it a rare opportunity in the area, Mr Whitney said.
"It's not a heritage house in a heritage area .. that’s unusual for inner city markets … [where there is] usually Victorian architecture that you need to tweak and improve but maintain the Victorian heritage."
The ability to have a modern build means the ultimate cashed-up buyer will "end up with a house that you can’t really find in the city."
The abandoned property is set to go under the hammer on June 24.
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