Estate agents gagged for covert Millers Point house sell-off

Toby Johnstone 
Resourced: http://smh.domain.com.au/real-estate-news/estate-agents-gagged-for-covert-millers-point-house-selloff-20140809-101y5u.html

For sale: 23 Lower Fort Street, Millers Point has views of the Opera House and Walsh Bay

The first batch of state-owned properties at Millers Point has hit the market without a sound, largely because of a gag placed on the agents by the government.



Three real estate agencies contacted by Domain confirmed that all information about the listings had to come through official government channels.



It has also emerged that the auctions of the historic homes will be closed to the public and will be held at undisclosed locations. Property inspections are strictly by appointment.




Colonial Classic: Built in 1834, this Regency-style house at 29 Lower Fort Street, Millers Point, is being offered for the first time in more than a century

When asked why agents were not able to to discuss the listings with the media, a spokesman for the NSW Office of Finance and Services said: "We want the agents focusing on doing what they do, which is sales."


But the head of a Millers Point public housing tenants' group, Barney Gardner, said the government was trying to keep the sale campaigns "low key".


"It's all going on behind closed doors," he said. "They don't want us to come along and protest."



On the quiet: 11 Lower Fort Street, Millers Point, is for sale.

Agents are understood to be providing price guides to potential buyers, but no price information is being given to the media.


Before the government clampdown, Domain published a price guide of more than $1 million for the first Millers Point property to be auctioned at 119 Kent Street, which hit the market a few weeks ago.


The four-bedroom Victorian home listed with Peter Starr of McGrath is over four levels and has water views over Walsh Bay.



First up: 119 Kent Street, Millers Point is expected to go for more than $1 million at its August 21 auction

Based on the crowds milling about outside the private inspections at Kent Street, buyer interest is high.


The most recent listings are on Lower Fort Street, which runs from the harbour at Dawes Point up to Observatory Hill.


One of the properties is a historic four-bedroom Georgian house called Tarra. Built in 1840, the home has views of the Opera House (from underneath the bridge) and is footsteps from harbourside restaurants and cafes at The Rocks.


An older home at 29 Lower Fort Street was built in the Colonial Regency style in 1834 and is being advertised through Rohan Aalders of Di Jones as "being offered for the first time in over a century".
The spokesman said all the properties available at the moment were vacant, but when asked when the last tenants moved out he said: "I couldn't comment on that."


Each property is being sold with a conservation-management plan, which gives a guide as to what is acceptable when renovating.


The four properties on offer through McGrath and Di Jones are on freehold titles. In the past, the state government had raised money for public housing by selling 99-year leases for the vacant properties.
Two more freehold homes are expected to come onto the market shortly as the government plans to use the first round of auctions "to test the market".


The spokesman said the agents were "getting a fair volume of inquiries".


Although they have shunned publicity, by opting to slowly bring the properties onto the market over two years, the government has shown some real-estate savvy.


"Obviously you don’t want to flood the market," the spokesman said.


The Office of Finance and Services is in charge of the the sales, while the Department of Family and Community Services is handling the relocation of the public housing tenants.


More than 100 tenants have already been moved from the Millers Point precinct. A spokesperson for the department said most tenants had moved to Glebe, Bondi, Ultimo, Leichardt, Marrickville, Pyrmont and some to North Sydney and Kirribilli.


Resourced: http://smh.domain.com.au/real-estate-news/estate-agents-gagged-for-covert-millers-point-house-selloff-20140809-101y5u.html