Auction tipping competition results show the value of ‘the worst house in the best street’

The old real estate mantra of “the worst house in the best street” stood tall this weekend.

For those who want to have a harmless punt, there's now a tipping website, www.propertytycoon.com.au, where punters can guess auction five results in Melbourne and Sydney, with no outlay. It's mostly about testing your market knowledge with a small cash prize as a sweetener.

In Melbourne the stunning house at 13 Raven Street, Kew (pictured above), failed to ignite the buyers' interest when it was passed in on a vendor bid of $3 million. In the current market buyers are looking for an upside in their investment, but the developers had milked out every drop of value in this property. The property sits on only 350 square metres of land and had been developed to an inch of its life.

In contrast 15 Waratah Street, Haberfield, in Sydney sits on over 700 square metres of land and was so highly sought after one buyer could not wait for the auction and paid $200,000 above the $1.9 million-plus quote. While it is not the worst house in the street, it is dated and offers the buyer some potential to add value.

These results show that regardless of the strength of the property market savvy buyers are always looking for value. In this case value was found in a house with potential on a good plot of dirt!