A St Albans house has set a new price record for the suburb, selling for more than $600,000 over its reserve at the weekend.
A Sydney property investor bought the 1960-built house at 80 Alfrieda Street for $1.81 million on Saturday, smashing the suburb’s price record of $1.1 million. The median house price for St Albans in the 12 months to December last year was $600,000, according to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria.
Ray White St Albans director Shaun Marijanovic said about 150 people attended the auction for the 613-square metre property but it came down to a battle between two women.
Mr Marijanovic said investors were attracted to the suburb because of it’s large blocks, proximity to the CBD and public transport infrastructure.
He said Brimbank councils’ eleventh hour move to compulsorily acquire a nearby property in McIvor Road may have driven the price up.
He believes Saturday’s record-breaking auction “shows the potential St Albans has” and will entice more sellers on to the market.
Mr Marijanovic said the purchaser intended to develop the land.
“They’ll develop it in the future, but I don’t see anything happening for another two-to-three years,” he said.
The house was last sold in June 1988 for $75,000.
While St Albans is attracting growing attention from investors, residents have recently objected to the “over-development” of their suburb.
Late last year about 50 residents complained to the council about two medium density housing developments slated for Helen Street.
Developers proposed bulldozing existing single-storey dwellings to make way for six double-storey townhouses and five double-storey townhouses, respectively. The plans were knocked back by Brimbank council.
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