Former Treasurer Joe Hockey lists redundant Canberra home

The three-bedroom home in the prestigious inner suburb of Forrest was bought by the former Treasurer and his wife Melissa Babbage back in March 1997 for just $320,000. It had sold at $375,000 in 1996.

Reportedly the home could sell for easily more than $1 million, according to the Australian Financial Review, although two years ago the Daily Telegraph suggested it was worth $1.5 million, given Forrest is one of the most expensive suburbs in Canberra. The realestate.com.au website price estimate suggests $1.7 million plus.

The unimproved value of Hockey’s property was $1,207,000 as of 2015-2016, according to Allhomes, based on a 1350-square-metre block.

The 1930s property features nine-foot ceilings on Furneaux Street. The property was reportedly due for auction this weekend through LJH Civic, according to the Rear Window column of the Australian Financial Review, but does not appear on any online websites. It has actually been listed for April 9 auction.

It was however also listed for rent recently at $990 a week, down from the initially desired $1100 when it was listed in January. It was marketed as an "original executive home."

In his biography Not Your Average Joe, a former Liberal MP Ross Cameron boasts that Mr Hockey struck a golden deal, spotting the house when driving in Canberra.

Biographer Madonna King writes that the seller wanted “no part in lawyers or agents."

“So Joe, the lawyer, called his father, the real estate agent, who took the owner out for a beer,’’ Ms King writes.