The “worst house in the best street” has hit the market in Brisbane – and it’s offering a “highly entry-level” foothold into a fast-growing suburb. But there are a couple of catches: the roof leaks, it’s packed to the rafters with pigeons, and the walls are asbestos.
66 Boxgrove Avenue, Wynnum QLD 4178
“She was an incredibly gifted and fascinating lady … and she had a lot of hobbies,” said selling agent Zoe O’Connor of Ray White Bulimba .
“There were hundreds of classical music records and thousands of books and even Harry Potter [collectables].”
But after she went into care and passed away, the now dilapidated cottage has sat empty.
While O’Connor first got the listing in April, she said the mammoth cleanup and clear-out only finished last Wednesday. Multiple teams and even volunteers removed thousands of books stacked against almost every wall, along with vinyl records and CDs, with some donated to the University of Queensland and others shipped overseas to the owner’s niece.
The home is now up for auction and will go under the hammer at The Calile Hotel on November 14.
Despite its state, O’Connor said a handful of property flippers had already reached out.
“I only launched on Monday and already I’ve got three people keen on it, so I do suspect we’ll have a few people come through on the first open,” she said.
“I’ve even got a few people saying they don’t even need to see it; they’ll just make an offer.
“Everyone wants the worst house in the best street and that’s what this is – and now it’s vermin free.”
With the snakes and rats removed – much to the relief of neighbours – O’Connor said brave-hearted buyers would need to start with the leaks and birds.
“The first thing they’ll need to do is take the roof off and get the pigeons out,” she says.
“Then after that you’ll need to get rid of the asbestos walls … and basically just strip it back to the frame.”
The one-bathroom post-war home sits on an elevated 405-square-metre block in the suburb’s “Golf Course Avenues” while being perched close to shops, cafes and schools.
It’s also a stone’s throw from the street’s priciest house at 69 Boxgrove Avenue, which sold for $1.8 million in August this year. Meanwhile Wynnum’s median house price is $1.35 million following an 8 per cent increase over the past year and a 74.2 per cent over the past five, according to Domain House Price Report for September 2026.
As for how much the pigeon-filled cottage will fetch, O’Connor can’t say. But given the state of the home and the state of Brisbane’s market – which suffered its steepest quarterly drop on record in September , there’s a good chance it will sell for a song.
“My first thought when I walked in was this would be a perfect home for a young tradie … it’s highly entry level,” she said.
“It can be knocked down but at this stage I’ve had more inquiries from people wanting to flip it rather than build and that’s because of the cost of building right now.”
Sarah Webb Sarah Webb is a journalist with almost 20 years’ experience covering general news, business and real estate in newsrooms across the country. She specialises in property markets, housing trends and urban change.
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