$50,000 Altona land sale as investors play real life Monopoly
Unserviced plots of land like Lot 442 Albury Ave, Altona, are selling for $50,000 and up in an industrial pocket of the suburb. Picture: Google Street View.
An Altona block of land has sold for the tiny sum of just $50,000 as part of a bizarre game of real life Monopoly, but it comes with a long list of catches.
The 627sq m allotment at Lot 442 Albury Ave is unserviced industrial land — that means it has no electricity, water, sewerage or gas connections.
There’s also no road access. And, given the zoning, it can only be developed as a warehouse or for industrial use.
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However, Ryan Lane Real Estate’s Anthony Molinia said the plot is too small to convince authorities to connect services as it stands — meaning you would have to collect as many as 20, and propose a development to cover the super site in order to turn it into useful land.
“You are buying in the hope that one day you can use it,” Mr Molinia said.
“And there have been people who have paid even more.”
Lot 442 Albury Ave, Altona, is unserviced — so there’s no connection to roads, yet.
Located behind the Altona baseball fields, one investor was able to collect enough properties to build a warehouse – the only structure in the precinct, accessed via nearby Harcourt Rd.
Remarkably, despite the long list of caveats that come with the property and its neighbours, investors are still regularly buying the blocks as part of a real life Monopoly game where they attempt to get enough blocks to get the council to green light development plans.
When Mr Molinia started selling plots in the area 30 years ago prices were as low as $3000.
For those buying in today in the hopes of collecting a set, Mr Molinia said there was one thing to keep in mind — if you got down to the last property needed to develop, there’s no guarantee that owner wouldn’t hold out for a much higher sum than $50,000.
The only warehouse developed in the precinct to date.
There is one benefit to the block’s peculiar list of headwinds — it has kept prices so low that the latest council valuation of $35,000 wouldn’t have been enough to trigger land tax payments.
However, Mr Molinia said there would likely still be a few hundred dollars a year in council fees for the property.
Given the nature of the properties, buyers almost always pay cash — with a loan very unlikely for people purchasing the land.
Latest PropTrack data shows Altona’s median house price, with blocks often around 600sq m, is $1.17m.
Industrial property values vary in the suburb, but a 200sq m warehouse in Aylesbury Drive sold for $795,000 in March.
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