One of Phillip Island’s most historic and prestigious properties has sold with a price guide from $7-$7.7 million.
The sale comes as new figures show small farm prices skyrocketed more than 64 per cent in Bass Coast in the past financial year – to $34,846 per hectare – making it the state’s seventh most expensive area for median small farms.
Trenavin Park, on the cliffs at Ventnor, is 33 hectares and last sold for $4.25 million in September 2008.
Agent Sean Cussell from Prestige Homes said the property was sold in early August.
“We had a looming deadline because of Coronavirus. If it hadn’t sold we would have had to take it off the market for six weeks because there are no inspections,” Sean said.
He said he could not disclose the price nor the settlement date.
The current building was constructed by founder and first president of the Phillip Island Shire Council AKT Sambell, and his wife Eleanor, in 1923.
The five-bedroom house was built with locally sourced bricks and Welsh slate roof tiles, and has a craftsman-built timber staircase, coffered ceilings and timber wall panels, while a long driveway is lined with cypress trees.
A second home, known as The Cottage, has three bedrooms, while Trenavin also has its own restored 1906 chapel – once the original San Remo church, which was transported to the property more than 30 years ago and has been used for weddings, concerts and events.
Land boom?
Meanwhile figures show Bass Coast small farm prices surged more than 64 per cent, with a median small farm price of $1.42 million, up 53.5 per cent year on year.
Bass Coast prices have surpassed Surf Coast, where median price per hectare is up a mere 3.5 per cent to $30,038, according to data from Digital Agriculture Services for the 2019/20 financial year.
Victoria’s most expensive small farms can be found on the Mornington Peninsula, where median sale price is $3.85 million – or $170,913 per hectare, down more than 26 per cent on the previous year.
Macedon Ranges comes in fourth, and Baw Baw tenth, with real estate figures showing more people are seeking a rural lifestyle away from metropolitan areas on the back of Coronavirus restrictions and lockdowns.