Frank Penhalluriack took on a premier, fines and prison sentence so he could open his Caulfield hardware store on Sundays. He’s now selling it.

The Melbourne hardware store founder who stared down a Premier, a prison sentence and bankrupting fines to bring seven-day shopping to Victoria is selling up.

The man behind Penhalluriack’s hardware store in Caulfield reckons more than a few of his ideas have been borrowed by “Mr Bunnings”, right down to the sausage sizzle, but he’s also the reason many retailers can open on a Saturday afternoon and Sundays.

Close to 50 years ago, while on a trip to America, Frank Penhalluriack saw weekend trading in action and decided to open his Hawthorn Rd shop on a Sunday when he got back.

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Initially it was business as usual for the trader, who had been operating since 1975, but with laws barring trading certain goods on Sundays in place at the time he was eventually fined.

Mr Penhalluriack refused to pay, ignoring the fines until they reached a bankruptcy inducing $500,000, at which point he pasted the summons for them onto his shopfront window to make a point.

Across six years of legal battles during the 1980s, the trader spent 19 days in prison and watched some of his goods seized to be auctioned by police, only for friends and locals to hi-jack the sell off — with one sympathiser and pinball arcade operator brought a sack of 20 cent pieces to pay for an item he bought under the hammer.

The home of Penhalluriack’s at 345 Hawthorn Rd, Caulfield, is up for sale.

The police auction of goods seized from Penhalluriack’s during the 1980s.

“I had a small sense that I was making history, but I was mostly stressed to the eyeballs,” Mr Penhalluriack said.

“But once it was underway, there was no backing down. That’s the stubborn Cornishness in me.”

In 1988 Mr Penhalluriack won a decisive court battle and then Premier John Cain, who had been one of his fiercest critics, changed the law to allow trading in Victoria on Sundays shortly after — a move NSW soon followed.

“It was a bit of how to change the law, politely,” Mr Penhalluriack said.

“And I didn’t have $500,000.

“But of course Melbourne is better off. Not that we have ever had a handshake or a thank you from Mr Bunnings.”

The hardware store founder is certain Bunnings might owe a bit more than Sunday trading to his efforts.

The store as seen in 1984, about a decade after it first opened.

Weekend trading led Mr Penhalluriack to be dubbed a rebel trader.

“We were the first people to do sausage sizzles, they were free — and they certainly grabbed that off us,” Mr Penhalluriack said.

“And on the Sundays when we were trading ‘illegally’, the customers would get a free sausage and they didn’t like the inspectors fining us very much.”

His shop is now set on a sprawling amalgamation of properties that spans 7634sq m.

Local commercial property valuations typically reach $4000-$5000 a metre and industry sources have suggested it could be worth as much as $30m if sold as a complete package.

While Mr Penhalluriack said he would happily hang onto the expansive collection, including the shop where he suspects more than 1 million people have made purchases at and that he still visits for a few hours a few days a week, he was now 83 years old and it was time.

He’s hoping it could be developed with a hospital and medical centre over a few levels, with aged care rising above it, something he said was “certainly needed” in the area.

JLL is handling the sale of the 345 Hawthorn Rd, Caulfield, property, with Josh Rutman, Jesse Radisich, Mark Stafford and MingXuan Li handling expressions of interest. Gary Peer’s Phillip Kingston and Simon Radolnik are also working on the sale.

Frank Penhalluriack has previously tried selling the site, but has subsequently expanded its holdings by 2000sq m. Picture: David Smith.

The 345 Hawthorn Rd, Caulfield, site is one of the biggest in the suburb.

Mr Penhalluriack has previously listed the business for sale, back in 2014, but that was prior to acquiring three additional properties that added 2000sq m to its sprawling size.

Mr Rutman said with the only other site of such size being the Caulfield Race Course, there simply wouldn’t be another in the suburb like this one.

“I think it will be a high density outcome of some description,” he said.

The agent is expecting a shortlist of interested parties will be confirmed over the coming six or seven weeks, before offers are considered.

However, the store will not shut upon sale.

“It won’t disappear tomorrow,” Mr Rutman said. “There will be an ongoing opportunity for them for a little while to come, as further plans for the site are made.”

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Real estate coach Josh Phegan trains Australia’s top-performing agents, but his advice holds valuable lessons for everyday homebuyers navigating a fast-moving and often overwhelming property market.

Buying a home has never been easy, but in today’s environment of tight supply, rising prices and constant competition, the process can be brutal.

Many buyers spend months researching the market, attending weekend inspections, and pouring over listings, only to lose at auction or get outbid by higher offers.

The heartbreak of missing out, again and again, can quickly take its toll.

Mr Phegan, who is said to be the number one preferred trainer for Australia’s top 100 agents and top 50 women in real estate, shared the techniques that he shares with agents to stay focused and avoid burnout with the Australasian Real Estate Conference (AREC) on the Gold Coast on Sunday.

“We live in a brand-new world, every single day you wake up, there’s something completely different.”

For buyers, that can mean changing interest rates, fluctuating property prices or fierce competition for homes.

Mr Phegan said people should try to understand their energy and mindset during the process, pointing to four common zones: performance, recovery, survival and burnout.

He said real estate agents and homebuyers alike needed to know where they sat among these zones to help them act with clarity.

“When you’re at your best, stop and have a look at what actually happened in the 24 hours before that moment that led you to be at your best, and replicate those behaviours,” he said.

He said people should also look out for the signs of stress.

“Sometimes in life, we find ourselves in a position that we’ve got a high level of energy, but we’re really negative. That’s the survival zone,” he said.

“And sometimes… you actually have people go into burnout.”

Mr Phegan said the solution was to take deliberate breaks and build strong routines.

For homebuyers, this could mean taking a short break from their property search to reflect on what was working and what wasn’t working.

“The recovery zone is all about the power of the routine, going to bed early, waking up early, doing all of the things that are critically important,” he said.

Mr Phegan said people needed to deeply understand the market they were buying into not just by looking at listings, but by learning the bigger picture about the area they were looking to buy in.

He said people should expand their research by learning about local amenities like shops, public transport options, and more.

“Find out where the schools are, the best cafes, transport options, then go and see them in person,” he said.

He encouraged agents to pay close attention to why a property was on the market, but it’s something that savvy buyers could try out as well.

He said sellers were motivated to sell their homes for different reasons, such as upgrading to a larger home for a growing family; to downsize as the kids moved out; to relocate for work; or to split up the assets after a relationship breakdown.

The different reasons often shaped how fast a seller wanted to move, with more pressing issues like divorce and relocations motivating sellers to sell up faster.

“The bigger the problem, the faster people move,” he said.

For example, someone relocating for work may be more likely to accept a fair offer than someone casually considering a move.

Above all, Mr Phegan said people needed to be clear on what they wanted and be ready to move when the right home appeared.

“It’s your goals. It’s your vision. Get clear and go,” he said. The conference continues on Monday.

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Melbourne’s property market has performed differently to the rest of the nation for the past two years, a rate cut is hitting differently here too. Picture: Valeriu Campan.

Melburnians have been warned not to fix their home loan for at least the next six months and to expect an about $23,000 increase in home prices after this week’s interest rate cut.

The city’s burgeoning housing market recovery has been tipped to accelerate after the Reserve Bank reduced interest rates by 0.25 percentage points this week, with the second cut for the year pushing the market back in favour of sellers after years with homebuyers on top.

But with more cuts expected, Smart Lending managing director Melissa Gielnik said unless you truly needed certainty in your finances, don’t fix for the next six months.

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While a 5.2 per cent rate was possible with some loans today, Ms Gielnik said by the end of the year it was likely they would fall to around 5 per cent.

But homeowners shouldn’t be sitting idle, a good variable rate today is around 5.84 per cent — and in the next month that should drop to 5.59 per cent.

If your bank doesn’t match up, she said it was time to call your broker.

This week’s cut also signalled the starting point for borrowers to be hypervigilant for whether their lender was passing the full cut along. From this point on Ms Gielnik said she was expecting more “inequality” among lenders when it comes to passing future RBA cuts on.

If there isn’t one in July, Ms Gielnik said there almost certainly would be one in August.

“Homeowners have done it tough and with everything (the RBA looks at) now moving well, they deserve that relief,” she said.

Reserve Bank governor Michelle Bullock announced a 0.25 percentage point cut on May 20. Picture: Monique Harmer

The RBA’s Tuesday cut is also expected to have big impacts on home savings.

On a fairly typical $660,000, Finder’s head of consumer research Graham Cooke has estimated that along with two more cuts this year a household would save $2553 a year, and $213 a month.

He advised homeowners who could afford to continue paying at the higher rate to do so, with extra payments going to an offset account that would expand savings into the tens of thousands over the life of a loan.

PropTrack economist Eleanor Creagh said Home Price index data since the February rate cut showed a 0.3 per cent increase in Melbourne’s typical house value to more than $900,000, while its typical unit price has risen 1.5 per cent to $588,000 by the end of April.

While too early to be considered a trend, Ms Creagh said the growth reflected Melbourne’s affordability issues — and strong activity from first-home buyers who were more challenged by the higher house prices.

Smart Lending managing director Melissa Gielnik says buyers should wait at least six months.

“First-home buyer activity has been stronger in Victoria than other states,” Ms Creagh said.

“And the growth makes sense given the starting point for affordability.”

The city is in the midst of a turn around, with twice the number of suburbs recording price gains compared to those recording declines in the past few months, Ms Creagh said the coming months were likely to see a broad uptick in prices continue.
“At the point of the February rate cut, Melbourne was seeing one of the fastest accelerations in price growth,” Ms Creagh said.

Across all property types, the past two months have yielded a 0.5 per cent increase, annualised this would reflect a 3.04 per cent uptick in the next 12 months that would add $23,430 to the city’s typical home price.

Ms Creagh said that could be a “reasonable assumption” of what the rest of the year holds, though might prove conservative if rates were cut significantly more than they already had been.

The economist said the result was the market becoming more seller friendly, after a number of years in buyers’ favour, in a trend that would continue this year.

Real Estate Institute of Victoria president Jacob Caine said the cut would support increased activity, with buyers benefiting from more room in their budget, while sellers could be more confident of a sale.

Home owners like those of 33 Adelaide St, Albion, had listed their home for sale in the weeks following the scheduled RBA announcement on May 20, hoping for a cut.

“After a time of negative growth in Victoria, a rate cut in February and another this week would be absolutely the driver for massive increases in competition and substantial property price growth,” Mr Caine said.

However, he did note that the February cut hadn’t led to an instant surge meaning homebuyers “might have a window of opportunity them, maybe for the next month or two”.

However, Ms Gielnik downplayed the odds of a significant jump in home prices, instead suggesting there would be only a “slight increase” as buyers had learned better property research skills during the weaker market conditions of the past few years.

“But first-home buyers will feel like they are better positioned, and be more confident knowing that rates are on a declining trajectory,” she said.

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Melbourne’s auction market rebounds with a 73.2 per cent clearance rate as investor exits reshape the landscape.

Melbourne’s auction market is showing renewed signs of life, with clearance rates rising and confident buyers stepping up — while investors quietly retreat.

PropTrack recorded a 73.2 per cent clearance rate across 594 reported auctions last week, in one of the city’s strongest results this year. Several sales surged well above reserve, as momentum picked up following the Reserve Bank’s recent rate cut.

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Among the week’s headline results was a Mount Waverley home linked to Sooshi Mango’s Joe Salanitri. The property at 7 Midway St sold under the hammer for $1.865m after opening at $1.5m, with seven registered bidders in the mix.

Ray White Judd White director Dexter Prack said the auction drew solid interest, but flagged a growing divide between owner-occupiers and landlords.

“We thought the result might go a touch higher, but overall we’re happy — and so are the owners,” Mr Prack said.

A Mount Waverley home linked to Sooshi Mango’s Joe Salanitri sold for $1.865m under the hammer.

The Glen Iris home at 1 Vincent St was Melbourne’s top sale for the weekend, fetching a strong $4.06m result.

“For investors, the biggest issues right now are land tax and red tape. The land tax has gone through the roof and compliance is becoming a real burden. The rent just isn’t cutting it anymore, so a lot of investors are looking interstate.”

Mr Prack, an REIV member, said Queensland and Western Australia were now attracting Victorian investors chasing better returns and fewer regulatory hurdles.

“It’s never been harder to hold an investment property in Victoria,” he said.

Ray White Judd White director Dexter Prack says land tax and red tape are pushing investors interstate. Picture: Rob Leeson.

This home at 4 Houston Ave, Strathmore achieved $2.23m — one of Melbourne’s strongest weekend results.

Buyers advocate Cate Bakos said this trend was already reshaping the market.

“Investors are being more selective, which means fewer rental properties are available — and that’s adding to the rental crisis,” Ms Bakos said.

“At the same time, we’re seeing real urgency from first-home buyers.

Melbourne buyers advocate Cate Bakos said investor retreat is fuelling rental shortages and buyer urgency.

The designer home at 6A Landen Ave, Balwyn North sold under the hammer for $2.15m.

“Even with higher interest rates, many are scared prices will keep rising and they’ll miss their window.”

Top reported results included 1 Vincent St, Glen Iris ($4.06m), 4 Houston Ave, Strathmore ($2.23m), 6A Landen Ave, Balwyn North ($2.15m), 6 Florence St, Glen Waverley ($2.14m), and 5 Beaconsfield Rd, Hawthorn East ($2.12m).

6 Florence St, Glen Waverley fetched $2.14m in a competitive auction with strong local interest.

5 Beaconsfield Rd, Hawthorn East achieved $2.12m as premium family homes continue to draw top dollar.

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david.bonaddio@news.com.au

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