43 Brook Street, Hawthorn, sold for a whopping $285,000 above expectations.
A Hawthorn home linked to iconic entertainer Barry Humphries, better known as Dame Edna Everage, has sold $285,000 above expectations.
The 43 Brook Street home was bought by the comedian’s late brother Michael Humphries, who lived next door and wanted to ensure it would not be developed.
While Mr Humphries bought the home for just $368,000 in 1999, it yesterday sold for $2.485m in an executors auction where seven bidders pursued the home.
RELATED: Homebuyers give budget stamp of approval
The Basin ‘paradise’ has mini train line, car museum and beautiful gardens
Michael Humphries’ Hawthorn house hits the market
And in an amusing twist, the buyer was a former student of the one-time librarian who worked at Melbourne High School.
The buyer asked to remain anonymous, but said he remembered Mr Humphries as a “remarkable individual”.
The home’s interior is comfortable as is, but provides scope for an update.
The house will now become his family home and he looks forward to making good use of its extensive backyard and the park over its back fence.
Woodards auctioneer John Piccolo said buyers were prepared to pay a premium for such homes.
The park over the back fence was popular with many of the prospective buyers.
Mr Piccolo added that the result, along with a number of strong ones in recent weeks, hinted economists and pundits predicting a 20 or 30 per cent reduction in home values had been proven wrong.
“They may have come back 5 per cent in the mainstream, but right now the market reminds me of the boom time in 2017,” he said.
The home has a more restrained colour palette than you might expect from someone related to Dame Edna Everage.
The executors for the sale, Penelope Johnson and Barbara Jones — Mr Humphries’ sister, said they were thrilled with the result.
“It was beyond what we were expecting, but it was an extensive property and it was hard to know what it would go for,” Ms Johnson said.
A striking fireplace still remains in the home’s main bedroom.
The highly-sought street and leafy park to the rear of the three-bedroom home were part of what he had loved about the neighbourhood, they added.
Earlier this month a three-bedroom home at 31 Irving Avenue, Prahran, that was also part of his portfolio sold for $1.363m.
MORE: Hamish Knox: Bend of Islands’ Glass House for sale
The affordable and liveable Melbourne suburbs deemed pandemic proof
Long-awaited sales could come before Christmas for Melbourne vendors
