Heritage house price soars

A newly restored, two-storey brick house – the first house ever built at Surry Hills in Sydney – has appreciated in value from 56 pounds in 1861 to more than $1 million today.
Valuers say the property has appreciated about 6,200 per cent in 144 years.
The classic Georgian house - built 145 years ago - is listed by Sydney Council as a heritage item.
It has just been fully restored as part of a new five-storey commercial and residential complex at 485 to 489 Elizabeth Street.
Official documents say the house was valued at 56 pounds in 1861 and the present owner, Briad Holdings, says it is now worth more than $1 million.
Soon after the brick-and-slate house with four rooms was built in 1860, the building beside it was used for a coach house and horse stables.
A regular job of the dray business was to carry dead bodies in coffins to the mortuary.
The property has supported many other commercial uses since then.
Adjoining the heritage house today is a showroom of 66 square metres on the ground floor of the new complex.
Floors one to four of the complex include more than 850 sqm of office and residential space.
Briad Holdings owns the property and has just finished developing it. It will lease the space for $380 a square metre.
Prospective tenants may contact the owner at Briad House, 491-493 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills, NSW, 2010; phone 9318 2727, fax 9310 1475.
The new complex is on 404 sqm of prime land only a few blocks from Central Railway Station and one kilometre from Sydney’s main central business district.
Knight Frank Valuations in Sydney says that a rise in the valuation of the property from about $112 to about $1 million over 144 years would be an appreciation of about 6199.7 per cent at an annual compounded rate of about 6.57 per cent. As most of the appreciation has occurred in the last 20 years, an annual rate for those years would be much higher.

Photo: Oldest house in Surry Hills becomes part of new commercial complex.

Download photographs at http://www.wbpublicity.com.au/briad/briad.htm

Media contact: Brian Adams, Briad Holdings; phone 9318 2727, fax 9310 1475.

Thanks to Craig Butler, Manager, Knight Frank Valuations, Sydney, and Cameron Olson, Associate Director, Knight Frank Valuations, Sydney, for calculating appreciation.