Houses listed for sale without signs after homeless break-ins

For sale signs are being ditched from the front of some listed bayside suburb homes following a spate of break-ins, graffiti vandalism, rough sleeping and the theft of staging furniture from unoccupied properties.

Bayside real estate agents have told this masthead they are marketing other homes without photographs on footpath signage to deter intruders after having security issues at listed properties in St Kilda, Elwood and Balaclava in recent months.

One agent, who has worked in the suburbs for 18 years but is not authorised by her employer to speak to the media, said she had never experienced the issue until last year, when there were several instances of what she believes to be people breaking into properties to sleep in them.

After the latest incident last weekend, the real estate agent said she called a colleague so they could enter a damaged house together in case intruders were inside, and then had to turn away potential purchasers who had come for an inspection.

“We’ve had a run of them,” she said. “On Saturday I turned up to my open for inspection and the window was smashed and there was drug paraphernalia inside.

“Recently, in St Kilda, they smashed the window and had a sleepover at the property, using the towels and linen.

“At another property they stole some of the staging furniture. They took candles, a desk, a bedside table, lamps and linen: weird things.

“It’s just opportunistic. I don’t think it’s premeditated. I think people experiencing homelessness just see the board.”

While he has not had any recent personal experiences of break-ins, Buxton director David Seeber said there did appear to be an issue.

“I dare say more vendors are getting more conscious of it, with properties being marketed with boards without photos,” he said.

Real estate agencies are dealing with the issue by taking down ‘for sale’ signs altogether or putting up a generic sign with no photographs so potential intruders cannot see that the property has been staged and is unoccupied.

A woman, who wishes to remain anonymous due to her employment, had her house broken into when it was listed for sale in St Kilda in September last year and was left empty with staged furniture.

Her real estate agent had turned the property’s power off, which meant its alarm was not operating and it was easier for the thieves to follow the signs and enter.

“The house had been ransacked,” she said. “They took everything out of the cupboards and put sheets on the floor to use as sacks to take things out. They took the TV, clothes, speakers, anything not nailed down.”

The woman said it is unclear whether the thieves stayed in the house, though it stank of cigarette smoke and she lost over $40,000 worth of possessions. Police fingerprinted the home but were unable to do anything further.

“The police said they had seen it before,” the woman said. “It was not a surprise to them. I felt so violated, it was absolutely horrendous – I had nightmares the whole time we had to stay there until our new house settled and we moved.”

When Matt Callander’s parents died, he and his siblings listed their family’s Seaholme home for sale in 2024 and had the property styled and staged to try to help the process.

“The last week of it being open before auction, the real estate agent called us and said someone had broken in and graffitied all over the walls with a black Sharpie in one room and had clearly been sleeping in the staged beds,” Callander said.

“There was a bit of drug paraphernalia – they had been sleeping inside and maybe entertaining, if that is the right word, as there were joint butts, rollies and lighters in various rooms and in the backyard.

“Who knows whether the sign out the front is what triggers someone who is opportunistic or if they use online listings to seek out empty places.”

The family’s real estate agent organised a handyman to clean the house and repaint the walls and security cameras were installed.

Sarika Bhalla, spokeswoman for the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, said break-ins were not a common issue.

“We haven’t had this reported to us, so I would assume this is an unfortunate case,” Bhalla said.

The most recent census suggests there are around 30,635 people experiencing homelessness in Victoria.

Robert Pradolin, founder and director of Housing All Australians, said homelessness had only increased since then with escalating house prices.

“People are getting desperate,” he said. “To me this is another indication that things are getting worse.”

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.