Wheeler House, Richmond wheeled out again but with much lower price expectations
Wheeler House, part of the Lonely Planet history in Richmond, has been relisted for sale.
But rather than its reported $2.5 million plus hopes of late last year's RT Edgar expressions of interest campaign, it has $1.6 million to $1.8 million expectations for Hocking Stuart auction this weekend.
Don't believe the Fairfax Media report that the Melbourne prestige market is going "fantastically" well.
Last Saturday after noting Melbourne’s weekend auction results, I suggested the Melbourne fillip was on the wane.
Buyer's agent Mal James wrote later he'd recently detected early signs of Melbourne's $1 million plus market having a bit of a soft spot with a second weekend showing more modest results, after two gangbuster auction weekends
James says there's still very strong demand in some segments of the market with A-Grade properties still having plenty of bidders.
But overpriced B-graders and all the C-graders, which he describes as the ones needing a big reno and where the price is not quite right, "are not showing the same results as they did just a few months ago."
Wheeler House has been listed by vendor Phil Anderson, proprietor of Northcote lounge bar The Purple Emerald, who bought 39-41 Rowena Parade from Natasha Oberoi, of the noted Indian hotel family for $1,225,000 in 2003 when she moved to the Yarra Valley.
The initial hope that the price had doubled in the decade have been dashed.
Designed by the firm, Robinson and Chen with a cutting edge design, it was initially the home of Lonely Planet founders Tony and Maureen Wheeler having been before that the site of the company's offices.
Architect Kai Chen gave the house pink and teal green exteriors, something of a test case against heritage color schemes, when built in 1989.
The 35-square residence first sold at $971,000 when in 2001 the Wheelers were off to their new house by the river in Hawthorn. They had paid just the $92,000 in 1986 for the Richmond property, with its 2001 auction price rated as the then highest residential price for a single dwelling in Richmond.
The four-bedroom property features zoned living areas, a private courtyard containing a spa and pool, roof-top sundeck, home office and three-car garage.
Maureen and Tony Wheeler rank around 700th in the London Sunday Times Rich List.
While the couple are generally regarded to reside in Melbourne's Hawthorn, where they paid $1.47 million back in 1999, they are claimed by the UK as one of theirs.
The Belfast-born Maureen and her husband Tony sold their Melbourne-based Lonely Planet publishing empire for £131 million.
The couple are worth around £112 million.
