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But with millions more needing to be spent, are they a good buy?
One East Melbourne mansion sits on the edge of Fitzroy Gardens. The property is almost 150 years old and showing its age.
Inside, there are bare brick walls, missing features and remnants of a business long gone. But despite the condition, the asking price is more than $13 million.
Across town, in Albert Park, it’s a similar story.
The property is still on the market for more than $10 million.
CoreLogic head of research Eliza Owen said those prices were not guaranteed.
“It’s going to be harder to sell those top-tier properties now than it would have been 12 months ago,” she said.
Researchers say the top end of the market is changing fastest.
“That’s generally the pattern you see at the start of a downturn, is that price falls tend to be concentrated in more central and expensive suburbs,” Owen said.
But there are exceptions.
One property in Toorak is in a similar state but agent Helena Chow is confident with the high price tag.
“We are looking at in the vicinity of 9 million,” she said.
“It’s likely it will be developers interested in this block of land.”
This isn’t an option for other forgotten historic homes across Melbourne.
Owen said it was a difficult time to be selling historical homes.
“It’s a tough time for those trying to sell, say, a crumbling mansion,” she said.
“It’s because you’ve got this trifecta of higher interest costs, a decline in the high end of the market… and of course higher construction costs.”
