Newtown auction: Development site drops nearly $1M in value in 11 months after receivers auction

A Geelong businessman has scored on a Newtown development site, paying nearly $1 million less than the previous owner did in July, 2019, after a receivers auction at the weekend.

The two houses at 452-456 La Trobe Tce, Newtown, were snapped up immediately after the auction on Saturday for $1.2 million.

A medical centre is planned for the site at the intersection with West Fyans St.

McGrath, Geelong agent Jim Cross said the property had attracted interest from buyers overseas, in Melbourne and Geelong.

But it was the local buyer that snapped up the property, offering the solitary $1 million bid before the property was passed in.

“He’s a local businessman looking to set up a medical practice,” Mr Cross said.

The sale price represented a $917,000 discount from when the property last sold, in 2019 after the previous buyer, a Ballarat based entity went into receivership.

The property was returned to market by Blythe Financial. Documents lodged with ASIC show previous owner Peter Desbrowe-Annear was also a creditor.

The sale was handled jointly by Geelong agencies McGrath and Colliers International.

A Ballarat buyer had paid $2,117,500 for the property in July, 2019.

The Ballarat-based buyer planned to take up a stalled mixed use apartment development on the 940sq m site, the real estate agent who handled the previous sale told the Addy.

The property comprises two dwellings on separate titles with a residential growth 1 zoning, with the high exposure from the four-line highway opposite Kardinia Park.

Plans and permits had lapsed for a three-storey mixed use development comprising 21 apartments, an office and an underground car park.

Originally published: https://www.realestate.com.au/news/newtown-auction-development-site-drops-nearly-1m-in-value-in-11-months-after-receivers-auction/