A BUYER has looked past the dilapidated state of a home in Merewether, which had been left empty for 20 years, to splash more than $2 million on the property.
The weatherboard cottage at 8 Hall Street fetched $2.225 million earlier this week in an off-market sale overseen by selling agent Beau Hedley from TaylorHedley Property.
The property sold within a week to a developer who plans to demolish the home and build a high-end duplex on the site.
Just 800 metres from Merewether Beach, the property spans 702 square metres however it does not have a water view.
Mr Hedley said recent sales in the area surrounding Hall Street indicated the property could sell in excess of $2 million based on land value.
"There were a couple of sales that were closer to the $2 million mark but there was one sale in particular that I know a couple of buyers fought over at auction and that went for $2.4 million," Mr Hedley said.
"That indicated to me that this one sat around that $2 million to $2.2 million mark."
Mr Hedley said the result showed the high level of demand for land in Merewether.
Other properties that sold for land value in the suburb have exchanged for much higher figures in recent years.
A knockdown rebuild site at 4 Janet Street sold for $4.85 million in 2020 and a vacant block at 3 Hillcrest Road pulled in $4 million in March last year.
The run-down cottage on Hall Street had been left uninhabited for the past two decades by its owner who purchased the property in 1985 for $63,000.
According to Mr Hedley, the only residents occupying the property were a family of feral cats.
The home had been left in a state of disrepair and all of the windows and doors had been boarded up.
"It is a unique one because the owner has held it since 1985 but for around a 20-year period no one has lived there," he said.
"It has literally just sat there empty, so it was quite run-down."
The median house value in Merewether is $1.78 million, according to CoreLogic.
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