VIC The Thomson House, Templestowe

The Thomson house is a converted hayshed in Templestowe.



The listing can be found here:

29 Edwin Road, Templestowe VIC 3106 - House For Sale | Domain

Domain published an article on the property a couple of days ago, which gives its interesting history, and includes a few comments by frustrated agents.

Right house, wrong place: This historic Melbourne property doesn't fit

The house was originally listed with a price range between $3 and $3.3 million in November last year. It didn't sell, and is still on the market reduced to between $2.75 and $2.9 million.

So what's the problem?

The main one is that it's heritage listed. The typical buyer is probably looking for something they can bulldoze and replace with a six bedroom French Provincial style mansion.

The price is probably optimistic as a result. Around $3 million will get you a larger house on a similar block, without any heritage concerns. For example, this one is just around the corner.

2 Hermann Court, Templestowe VIC 3106 - House For Sale | Domain

Even the listing agent, David Gyton of Emerson Oliver Estate Agents, agrees, saying that the price “doesn’t quite equate” in the article. Were it in Eltham, he thinks that he'd have no problem selling.

Then again, were it in Eltham the price would be substantially lower. The Rice House, an important modernist design in that suburb, which is heritage listed, and sits on a similar sized (circa 4000 m2) block sold for $900K in January last year.

Sold 69 Ryans Road, Eltham VIC 3095 on 16 Jan 2017 - 2013148667 | Domain

The vendor is probably being optimistic with the asking price, but I'd be curious to see what people think that it should actually be worth. There are currently two three bedroom houses listed in Templestowe, at $1.5 and $1.7 million, and the suburb sales records seem to be in that range.