High school student study finds prices 20 percent lower on streets with silly names
A group of high school student have found out that you may be able to find a more affordable home on a street with a silly name.
The ABC reported the high school girls from Sacred Heart College in Geelong identified 27 streets in Victoria with silly names, including Butt Street, Wanke Road and Fanny Street.
Adam Cole, the school's head of science, guided the research.
He told ABC Radio Melbourne they looked at them on Google maps and found two adjacent streets with relatively normal names.
The study found prices on streets with silly names were significantly lower than houses on nearby streets.
The girls analysed more than 4,500 house sales on the streets over the past 47 years, working with staff from the ABS, the University of Sydney and a Melbourne real estate agent.
They found prices were around 20 percent lower on silly named streets. That equated to around $140,000 saving on a median-priced Melbourne house.
Following their research, the group surveyed adults about their feelings toward silly street names.
Of the 323 adults surveyed, a third said they would not be happy living in a street with a name like Beaver Street, Willys Avenue or Grogan Court.
A three bedroom home on Willys Avenue (above), recently sold for $500,000.
Adam Cole told the ABC it was likely this affected the supply-and-demand equation for properties on those streets.
"We think that there is a proportion of people that would not be comfortable living in those streets, so they don't compete for those properties and that would drive prices down," he said.
"We think it's probably got to do with a proportion of people being embarrassed by the address when they have to give it out."
He said that the silly name effect was more prevalent in the capital city suburbs than in regional areas, suggesting it was probably because there is more supply and choice in Melbourne.
The price discrepancy was also greater in lower-priced properties than more expensive ones.