Derelict Elizabeth East home in Adelaide to be auctioned after water damage forces owners out

There are renovation jobs and then there are homes like 55 Northampton Crescent, Elizabeth East.

The Adelaide property will be auctioned this month and house hunters are urged to keep an open mind because it “needs a good declutter and lots of love”.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Derelict Elizabeth East home hits the market.

Water damage caused the roof and ceilings in most rooms to collapse just five days before Christmas.

Ray White agent Winston Coxon told 7NEWS.com.au the owners had wanted to stay but decided to move after losing a fight with their insurer to have the damage repaired.

“Please be mindful before inspecting that the property needs a good declutter and lots of love,” Coxon wrote in an online promotion for the home.

“The property MUST SELL and will be sold in its current condition with contents at vendor’s discretion.”

The three-bedroom, one bathroom home was built in 1963 and sits on an 880sqm block, with space to park up to 10 cars.

It is about 30km from Adelaide’s CBD, is serviced by public transport including trains and bus routes, located near parks and schools and a shopping centre, and is “conveniently close” to health facilities, including Lyell McEwin Hospital.

It is being pitched as a “developer’s delight”, with concept plans showing how it could be subdivided.

“This could become an exceptional investment or potential development opportunity,” Coxon said.

It was expected to go for about $400,000 at auction, some $140,000 less than the median for similarly-sized properties in the suburb.

But that is now likely to be closer to $500,000, with Coxon telling 7NEWS.com.au he had fielded calls from developers and buyers asking “can I salvage the property” as a rental or to live in.

The home will be auctioned on May 17.

Australia is short of housing stock and agents are not against taking homes like the Elizabeth East one to market.

Some, like a Perth home seller, even play on their flaws.

‘They’ll call your bluff’

O’Neil Real Estate residential sales consultant Ash Swarts described 19 Ryland Rd in Kelmscott as “probably the worst-presented” home he had put in front of buyers when it hit the market in 2024.

The property was abandoned in a state of clutter after the former owners “just up and left”, leaving behind a “treasure trove” of old furniture and “plenty of skip bins full of stuff” that needed to be hauled out.

Swarts told 7NEWS.com.au he went with an honest approach because there was no hiding the work that needs to be done.

Any other approach and “they’ll call your bluff”.