One-bedroom house in Queenscliff sells under the hammer for $5.55m after just 12 bids

A dilapidated one-bedroom house in Queenscliff known as Ikona was always expected to do well at Saturday’s auction despite having just 70 square metres of internal living space and no parking space.

More than its original 1940s fisherman’s cottage charm, however, it was the clifftop position backing onto oceanfront reserve and its view over Freshwater Beach that most inspired the agents to give buyers a $4.8 million guide.

About 100 people were in attendance to see five registered bidders compete for the property at which an opening bid of $4.5 million was quickly raised in just a dozen bids to a $5.55 million sale price.

Belle Property Manly’s Anthony Calacoci declined to comment after the auction and the reserve remained undisclosed, but the quick competition saw it sell for more than $700,000 above the guide price.

Marketed as a “near original, dual level, full-brick character home”, it is expected to be a redevelopment opportunity for the new owners despite sitting on only 339 square metres.

The Pavilion Street house was bought in 1981 by the late US expat artist and film director Nancy Hollander, who died in 2007, leaving the property to a friend.

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The Queenscliff suburb record was reset at $10 million late last year when a house a few doors along the clifftop sold to company Formica, which is a subsidiary of the retirement and nursing home giant Aveo of which the non-executive chairman is Malaysian billionaire Seng Huang Lee.

Set on 942sq m, the property was previously owned by Paul Hogan’s first wife Noelene, until she sold it in 1993 for $970,000.

Westpac’s former chief executive Gail Kelly also owns on the same stretch of oceanfront reserve, having bought her weekender in 2002 for $2.1 million.

Queenscliff’s median house price fell 27.4 per cent in the past 12 months to a median of $2.54 million, according to Domain Group data.

The house has spectacular views over Freshwater beach. Supplied.