For eight years, a humble bungalow stood firm, stranded as the last freestanding home on a street of tower blocks where some apartments reach more than forty storeys high.

But this lonely little no-rise home in the riverside suburb of Rhodes, bought for $978,000 in 2017 and rented out for $900 a week, sold at auction for $8.15 million last weekend – a 733% capital gain. Not a bad return, right? 

Not that the owner was happy with the price – they once told locals he wouldn’t sell for less than $20 million, according to news.com.au.

The property was advertised as a rare development site in Sydney’s waterside suburb of Rhodes, with two possible options: a 7-storey mixed-use building or a 66-room boarding house, which both needed council approval.

The ABC reports the buyer apparently decided a hotel would be a better fit. There’s currently no hotel nearby.

Another buyer wanted to turn the house into a fitness centre or apartments, but the high price tag meant those buyers dropped out of the race.

‘New hotels help stop Airbnbs driving up rents’

According to a grassroots group called Sydney YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard), hotels and redevelopments like this are now linked: if there aren’t enough hotels, more homes are likely to become Airbnbs, pushing up rents for locals who need permanent housing.

Their chair, Justin Simon, said areas that block new development – whether homes, boarding houses or hotels – risk other long-term problems like school closures, staff shortages, and local decline.

As more strata towers rise (and single storey homes vanish), the urban evolution of big cities – where redevelopment value, not sentimental value drives prices – it’s interesting to watch what types of properties are built anew.

Whether it’s a hotel, a data centre or another highrise to meet the federal government’s ambitious target to build 1.2 million new homes before July 2029, it’s all reshaping our streets, homes and strata living expectations.