Glen Iris owners band together for $6.637 million Melbourne sale
Savvy homeowners in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs are banding together to combine properties, as they look to capitalise on demand for residential development opportunities.
One such example was the sale of adjacent properties 1455 High Street and 2a Scott Grove, Glen Iris for $6,637,000.
The properties over a combined area of 1,644 square metres were sold to a local developer.
The campaign was handled by CBRE’s Julian White at a rate of $4,000 per square metre.
“We are witnessing an increasing acceptance of apartment living in suburban markets, particularly in prestigious suburbs such as Glen Iris, where medium house prices of $2 million plus inhibit freestanding home ownership," Julian White said.
He added that developer confidence in the pre-sale apartment market was another driver, as apartment sites in the eastern suburbs become harder to secure and planning permits more difficult to obtain.
“To capitalise on developer demand, group selling is becoming increasingly popular, as homeowners look to partner with neighbours to sell their homes for significantly higher returns than can be achieved by selling sites individually,” White said.
“Both the properties in this instance were purchased less than 18 months ago, with the vendors making big margins of around 100% from what they paid.”
Another major factor impacting the eastern suburban market is the arrival of Chinese developers.
“Many offshore developers are familiar with the eastern suburbs market through family living in Australia. Suburbs such as Glen Iris, Kew and Canterbury are highly regarded by many locally based Chinese families, therefore when an offshore Chinese buyer is looking to acquire a site, these areas are high on their preference list.
“Whilst 1455 High Street & 2a Scott Grove was acquired by a local developer, the majority of bids received were from offshore Asian groups.”
The Glen Iris sale follows recent group selling deals at South Yarra, Cheltenham and Camberwell.