Add CategoryFor nearly three decades, an Adelaide family refused to sell their massive block to developers – even as an entire housing estate was built around them.
Now they’ve cashed in, with the tightly held 1.21ha property at 95-101 Winzor St, Salisbury selling at auction for whopping $5.5m – $2.2m above its price guide.
The sale saw 20 developers go head-to-head in what has been described as a fast-paced and competitive auction by selling agents Tom Hector and Clinton Nguyen of Harris Real Estate.
“We weren’t (initially) certain in terms of what you could potentially put on that land and how much the council would approve but once most developers did their due diligence, we had a good sense of that this property was going to perform quite well at auction,” Mr Nguyen said.
“However, we ended up with a lot more (interest) than what we initially anticipated.
MORE:Australia’s ‘happiest job’ paying $130k a year
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR MORE REAL ESTATE NEWS
![Supplied Real Estate 95-101 Winzor Street, Salisbury](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1280 720"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The 1.21ha property at 95-101 Winzor Salisbury has been owned by the same family for 60 years.
MORE: ‘Electrician on $165k:’ Are you getting paid enough?
“We’re seeing a lot of demand for these sort of blocks of land at the moment and, speaking to developers, there’s been a few off-market transactions as well.
Land Services SA data shows the once popular market garden was registered to the late Carmelina Miliado who, according to Mr Hector, had owned the land holding, together with her husband, for close to 60 years.For 30 of them, developers had been knocking on their door in the hope to secure the land for housing, but the couple refused to sell their home, even as land and house prices went up.
MORE:Neighbours star lists Adelaide home
For the past 30 years, developers have been trying to snag the large block to build new homes on it.
Until recently, the owners refused to sell the former market garden.
MORE: Home made out of garbage sells in million-dollar deal
It’s reminiscent of the movie The Castle in which the quirky Kerrigan family fight to keep their home from being demolished by the government, with many one-liners, including, “tell ‘em to get stuffed”, having become cult Aussie sayings.
While the Kerrigans won the war against developers in the end, it was a different story for the Miliados, according to Mr Hector who sold the property as a deceased estate.
“The owners lived in that house up until the end, which was quite recently,” he said.
“I’ve been told they’ve had developers knocking on their door for the last 30 years … but (the family didn’t sell (until now) because their mum and dad were still alive.
“It was their wish to never let that property go but the cost (to keep it) is now too high for the family. So it’s a very sad sale.”
MORE: What AI thinks ‘typical’ Adelaide homes look like
The three-bedroom home is now a deceased estate.
Time has virtually stood still inside the home.
Scene from film “The Castle”. Picture: Roadshow
Mr Hector said the impressive landholding could be subdivided into 15 to 30 allotments, subject to council consent and developer preferences.
This, he said, made it an enticing offering to developers.
“All the interest we had came from developers because the land is too expensive to do anything with, except for developing it,” he said.
“There was probably 100 people that attended (the auction) as it was a very unique opportunity, which is why it sold for such a large sum”
The Miliados were not the first family to make headlines for their stubborn approach towards developers.
A year ago, the Zammit family from Quakers Hill in Sydney’s north west caught worldwide attention when they declined to sell their 20,000sqm parcel of land to developers who had purchased all the land around them.
The Zammit family’s home in Quakers Hill. Picture: Channel 7
The family had received offers of up to $50m to sell their home to complete the new development named The Ponds, but turned them down.
Instead the development went ahead all around them while their property remained intact.
However that hasn’t deterred some developers who continue to reach out to the family with offers reportedly to now be close to $60m, meaning the family have possibly earned another $10m or 20 per cent over the past year.
A local real estate agent previously praised the Zammit family for staying put, despite the big payouts they have likely been offered.
“The fact that most people sold out years and years ago, these guys have held on. All credit to them,” Ray White Quakers Hill agent Taylor Bredin told 7News.