Final release of Mr Fluffy blocks set for auction

The remaining unsold Mr Fluffy blocks in the ACT are set to go under the hammer in the upcoming months. Suburban Land ACT auctions are scheduled for March, April and May, which will see approximately 200 new blocks of land offered.

The ACT government has now bought back more than 948 Mr Fluffy asbestos properties, costing $678 million at an average of $715,190 a block.

The asbestos taskforce needs to work through the final list of blocks and if the current owners give up their first right to purchase then all of those blocks will come on to the market by the end of the financial year.

The next Suburban Land ACT public auction will be on Thursday, March 1, at The Hellenic Club Woden. Ninety-three blocks from across Belconnen, Tuggeranong, Woden and Weston Creek,
as well as the inner south and the inner north, are scheduled to be auctioned on the day.

Mr Fluffy blocks that fail to sell at Auction won’t be sold for less than what the original home owner was offered, in spite of low clearance rates at the last auction. Nearly two-thirds of the blocks at the most recent auction were passed in. Most of these blocks were located in the south Canberra suburbs of Pearce, Kambah, Holder and Fisher.

In contrast, a 1821-square metre block in Deakin sold for $2.75million in December 2017 – smashing the previous record price paid for a Mr Fluffy block by $848,000. The former highest recorded sale for a Mr Fluffy block was set in March 2017 with the sale of a 1156-square metre block for $1.902 million in Red Hill. Central suburbs have resulted in a higher clearance rate than others due to their close proximity to the city, access to reserves and large block sizes.

At the upcoming auctions, there are two notable blocks of more than 2000 square metres located in the luxury suburbs of Deakin and Forrest. These blocks are predicted to attract strong competition from property developers, due to the blocks having the capability to build more than one dwelling on it.