NEWS 11

HERALDSUN.COM.AU SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

Duck fight
in court

ITS YOURS FOR JOUST A FEW MILLION

BENN DORRINGTON

THE future of some freckled

ducks looks uncertain as a dispute between animal advocates and the Victorian
government over duck hunting heads to trial.
Animals Australia on Thursday launched urgent legal action to try to force the state
government into closing Lake
Toolondo wetland immediately
after 18 freckled ducks were
killed there during the opening
of duck hunting season.
Victorian Supreme Court
Justice Kate McMillan yesterday ordered a trial for next week
but Lyn White from Animals
Australia said the governments
inaction was killing rare birds.

KRYAL Castle is looking for a

new king or queen after a
multi-million-dollar makeover.
The medieval adventure
park near Ballarat is back on
the market after it last sold for
$1.3 million in 2012.
The investors who bought it
then claim to have since poured
millions into redeveloping the
fantasy theme park.
It has grown substantially,
with more than 15 attractions,
17 accommodation suites,
function spaces and shops.
Colliers Internationals Guy
Wells and CBREs Scott Callow
are listing the award-winning
tourism site, located on Forbes
Rd in Leigh Creek.
Part-owner Erin Joyce said
the group of owners had
decided to sell the castle since it
was ready for the next phase of
its development.
Ms Joyce declined to share
their price expectations but
said: Millions and millions of
dollars have been spent on the
redevelopment, so people that
are serious will draw their own
conclusions.
Ms Joyce explained the fun
park and accommodation
occupied only a fraction of the
10.96ha property, offering
plenty of room for further
development.
Keith and Joyce Ryall built
the castle in 1972 and it opened
as a tourist attraction in 1974.

WEDDING
UNVEILED

The medieval-themed castle has been

extensively redeveloped since 2012.

Units drag
on values

CONTROVERSIAL former
Sydney suburban deputy
mayor Salim Mehajer took to
Facebook yesterday to claim
reports about the breakdown
of his marriage were an April
Fools Day joke.
The 29-year-olds wife,
Aysha, was nowhere to be
seen and her family were
issuing point-blank refusals
to discuss her whereabouts or
the state of the marriage.
The couples lavish
wedding in August last year
featured four helicopters, a
$50 million fleet of luxury
cars and a motorcade of
bikies on Harley-Davidsons.

NOBODY BEATS
OUR PRICES

Melbourne has two-tier market

BENN DORRINGTON
MELBOURNES
median
home value fell slightly in
March, but the city still posted
the best annual growth among
the state capitals.
Experts said an oversupply
of
inner-city
apartments
dragged down values.
The latest CoreLogic RP
Data Hedonic Home Value
Index showed Melbournes
median home value dipped
0.6 per cent last month to
$560,000, but rose 9.8 per cent
for the year to March.
It was the first time since
May last year that the citys
growth in a 12-month period
had dipped below 10 per cent.
WBP Property Group
executive chairman Greville
Pabst said the performance of
the unit and apartment market
had driven the fall in the overall market.
Its a two-tiered market at
the moment, due to apartments coming off and houses
still quite strong, he said.
Mr Pabst said there was a
worrying oversupply of apartV1 - MHSE01Z01MA

ALL YOUR
AUCTION
RESULTS

ments in the CBD, Docklands

and Southbank, as well as
fewer investors in the market
after last years regulatory
changes to borrowing.
He said it was still a strong
market for detached-house
owners, due to a shortage of
family accommodation.
Melbourne house values
were up 10.7 per cent over the
past 12 months to $610,000,
while unit values were only 2.5
per cent higher at $469,000.
CoreLogic head of research
Tim Lawless said the big difference in Melbourne was the gap
between house value perform-

ance and unit value performance due to the excess of

apartments. The growth cycle
has been running since values
troughed in May 2012.
On the auction front, St
Albans was the surprise auction capital for the country this
week, just ahead of Epping and
Glen Waverley.
The western suburb has 14
auctions, while the other two
areas have 13 each.
There are 538 auctions
scheduled across Melbourne,
up on last weeks 78.
CoreLogics auction spokesman Kevin Brogan said Melbournes
auction
market
looked steady, with auction
volumes likely to grow.
CoreLogic RP Data recorded a 71.4 per cent clearance rate
from 56 auctions last week.
However, many of them were
held in coastal areas.
He said Melbournes clearance rates had remained
steady this year, hovering
between 70 per cent and 80 per
cent.
benn.dorrington@news.com.au
@Benndorrington

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