The former Neighbours backlot is set to be demolished. Picture: Tony Gough
Melbourne has woken up to a world without Neighbours, and the demolition of Erinsborough is now expected to send demand for the last real Ramsay Street homes into overdrive.
Less than 24 hours after the final episode aired, bulldozers are preparing to move into the former Nunawading studio site, wiping out the entire fictional town except for one quiet cul-de-sac in Vermont South.
The Lassiters backlot, the Waterhole, Harold’s Store, the lawyer’s offices and the man-made lake that featured in four decades of episodes will all be demolished under the approved Forest Ridge plan.
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None of the exterior sets is protected under the site’s heritage overlay.
Only the red-brick 1964 administrative block, the old Wentworth façade, will remain, leaving Pin Oak Crt as the last intact geography connected to the show.
Docking Real Estate director Adam Docking said this week’s finale had already stirred renewed curiosity around the famous street.
“Those homes have always attracted more responses and stronger prices,” Mr Docking said.
“There’s a magic to it, and that won’t disappear.”
The latest PropTrack market trends data shows Vermont South’s house prices now sit at a $1.51m median, placing the suburb well above the wider Melbourne benchmark.
Bulldozers will move in within weeks, removing the iconic Lassiters façades and long-running Neighbours filming locations. Picture: FremantleMedia/Supplied
The area is already running hotter than the metro market overall, with lean listing levels, shorter days on market and above-average buyer enquiry.
Demand is strongest in long-tenure, school-belt suburbs, exactly the profile that built Ramsay Street.
Mr Docking said the finale had simply shone a brighter spotlight on an already tight pocket.
Pin Oak Court in Vermont South remains the last intact geography linked to the long-running Australian soap.
“People stay here 20 or 30 years,” he said.
“It’s safe, it’s stable, the schools are fantastic.
“It holds its own even when other areas soften.”
The studio precinct, now fully vacated by Fremantle, stands empty.
Lightweight sets, including the Lassiters complex and surrounding streetscape, will be cleared under the approved redevelopment plan. Picture: Channel 10/Supplied
The lightweight Lassiters facades will be the first to fall, while the lake will be drained and filled before becoming a smaller engineered water feature inside a new public park.
It creates a sharp contrast that the place where Harold once poured coffees and Charlene climbed through a window will soon be a construction zone, while the real Ramsay Street becomes a cultural trophy.
For four decades, the six homeowners of Pin Oak Crt were paid between $30,000 and $50,000 a year for filming access and were required to keep their facades unchanged.
Those contracts ended with last night’s finale, giving residents freedom to repaint and renovate.
Mr Docking expects any future listing on the court to draw national attention.
“When the next one comes up after an upgrade, it will go off,”
There’s nothing else like it, especially now the sets are being pulled down.”
The man-made lake and surrounding exterior sets that appeared in four decades of episodes will be removed and replaced by new parkland. Picture: Lawrence Pinder
The new Forest Ridge estate will market a leafy suburban lifestyle under the line “Make it Home”, even as it replaces the very place that created Australia’s most famous version of home.
Mr Docking said the ending of the show wouldn’t end the appeal.
“Even if you weren’t a fan, it’s part of Melbourne folklore. People love being part of something iconic.”
As demolition crews move in, Lassiters will fall, the lake will disappear and the streets of Erinsborough will be wiped off the map.
But on a small court in the east, the homes that built the show’s final scenes may be entering their most valuable decade yet.
“If we get a listing in that pocket,” Mr Docking said.
“We’ll still market it as a Neighbours property, absolutely.”
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