Not much movement among Neighbours on Pin Oak Court as Ramsay Street celebrates 30 years
There are just the six houses on what's become known around the world as Ramsay Street, Erinsborough.
And despite all the comings and goings of the residents on the television show, only four of the six at the Vermont South setting have actually been sold over the past 30 years during which the internationally broadcast series, Neighbours has been broadcast.
Two of the four sold on the tightly held Pin Oak Court cul de sac have been bought by an expatriate Neighbours fanatic living in the UK who most recently paid $867,000 in early 2013 to secure his second 'Ramsay Street' house.
Andrew Whitney, who directs a private jet and helicopter charter flight company in the UK, outbid seven for the Pin Oak Court, Vermont South offering.
Also known as 30 Ramsay Street, the home of Jarrod 'Toadie' Rebecchi, it was offered through Barry Plant Real Estate.
The former Blackburn North resident bought another Pin Oak Court house 17 years ago before moving to the UK for $238,000.
Mr Whitney once told the Herald Sun that he knows the street better than anyone.
"I record every episode of Neighbours," he said.
It was sold by the downsizing vendor Faye Pierce, with the buyer able to join the other court residents who are paid a substantial annual fee by the show's producers in agreeing to avoid changes to their facades without consultation and allowing external regular filming. It has been reported that even a letterbox change could be catastrophic for continuity.
The four-bedroom home was built with her husband in 1973 with its expansive covered rear deck having elevated views over Billabong Park.
Marketed as the 'Neighbours House' at 3 Pin Oak Court, the property's marketing won a 2013 real estate marketing award for the Barry Plant Monash Group.
It was advertised as "Your chance to own a piece of Australian television history!"
The most traded on the street sold at $126,000 in 1984, just before the show began; then in 1999 at $312,580 and then in 2007 at $630,000.
The home of the Robinson family, where much of the early action in the soap took place, is number 6.
The original characters included plumber Max Ramsay (Francis Bell), after whose family the street was named, his migrant wife Maria (Dasha Blahova) and their sons Shane (Peter O'Brien) and Danny (David Clencie).
Widower Jim Robinson (Alan Dale) lived next door with his kids, Paul (Stefan Dennis), Julie (Vikki Blanche), Scott (Darius Perkins/later Jason Donovan) and Lucy (Kylie Flinker), and mother-in-law Helen Daniels (Anne Haddy).
It was launched by the Seven Network on March 18, 1985, but struggled for four months before cancellation, only to be reborn at Channel Ten to then become Australia's longest-running prime time soap, and the second longest in the world behind Britain's Coronation Street.
Neighbours was repackaged debuting on Ten in January 1986 with huge credit to Ten's director of publicity, Brian Walsh, who toured the cast across shopping centres, generating unprecedented interest in afternoon newspapers, with the likes of The Daily Mirror's David Brown securing regular front page exclusives on the latest for Scott and Charlene (Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue), which television critic Michael Idato once described as one of Australian television's iconic romances, on and off screen.
One story line through the years was changing the name of the street to Ramsbottom Street. Harold Bishop led a protest against the name change and won.
The median price currently listed by CoreLogic RP Data for houses in Vermont South is $815,000. Back in the mid-1980s it was around $119,000.
The last sale prices on Pin Oak are:
- 3 Pin Oak $867,000 2013
- 2 Pin Oak $630,000 - 2007
- 6 Pin Oak $238,000 - 1998
- 1 Pin Oak $235,000 - 1991
- 4 Pin Oak $66,950 - 1981
- 5 Pin Oak $62,000 - 1978
