Tara Murray
A six-bedroom ‘mansion’ in Albanvale has sold for $1 million, the largest residential property sale in the suburb, stunning a local real estate agent.
The property on Opie Road sold last month, making it the first residential property in the suburb to sell for seven figures.
Only a double property in Wintersun Drive, which had a three bedroom house and a shop, has sold for more. It sold for $1,050,000 in 2018.
Stockdale and Leggo St Albans-Sunshine’s Bill Damianos said he was pleasantly surprised by the sale last month.
The average median house price in Albanvale is currently $547,000.
“I had seen one sell for about $845,000 in the same street a couple of months ago that was fully renovated,” he said.
“This one needs a lot more work. To get about $155,000 on top of that is quite an achievement.
“It was well above the reserves and the vendor was extremely excited and so was I.”
The house includes a grand foyer entrance with cathedral ceilings and spiral staircase, six bedrooms with built-in robes, a master bedroom with en suite and private balcony, a spa bath, two enormous lounge areas, separate meals room adjoining the kitchen and room for ten vehicles. There is also the potential to build units behind the house.
Mr Damianos said generally Albanvale was a hidden gem that many people didn’t know about.
He said the one downside of the area was a lack of public transport.
“It’s a secluded pocket and affordable on most levels,” he said. “It’s the same postcode as St Albans.
“A lot of people don’t know about it and it’s a good location other than no public transport.
“It’s an area that is between a couple of suburbs that haven’t taken off,
“Kings Park is gradually improving with Burnside and the suburbs nearby growing. Deer Park is on the other side.
“When you’re talking about buying investment, they’re normally looking within 500 metres to one kilometre of a train station.
“There is no transport along the same belt.”
Mr Damianos said he was expecting house prices in suburbs along Ballarat Road to start to increase, with the corridor one of the biggest growing in Australia.
He said that real estate agents have seen an unexpected rise in house prices across Victoria following the COVID-19 pandemic.
“COVID-19 has had an adverse affect,” he said.
“People wanted to buy during covid, but they couldn’t buy.
“Now with a normal market and lower interest rates, people are looking to buy.”
