Quilpie online land auction exceeds expectations as the local council lures people to town

The council of an Queensland outback town has sold seven blocks of land in an online auction that generated prices five times more than the “free” reserve and more will be offered next year.

The local council of a small outback town in western Queensland will offer more blocks of land next year after the success of an online auction which generated prices five times above reserve.

The auctions last week by Quilpie Shire Council attracted more than 100 registered bidders and with the reserve price of $12,500 offset by a new homeowner grant, the blocks were marketed as “essentially free”.

The $12,500 grant is only available on the condition that buyers build their new home and live there for six months.

After an earlier sale of so-called “free” land sparked an overwhelming response with more than 600 responses which saw the council go to an online auction process,

Seven blocks in Curlew Estate — each about 1000sq m — sold for between $45,000 and $52,000 each for a total of almost $340,000.

Three of the blocks that failed to sell because of “technical issues” will be reoffered in the Stage 2 auction early next year.

Mother-of-two Robina Meehan, who runs Unstable Coffee — a mobile coffee cart in a re-purposed horse float — arrived in town with husband Aaron two years ago.

Earlier this year they bought two blocks of land side-by-side for $12,500 each with the intention of building on them.

“From what’s happened we might end up putting them back on the market,” she joked.

Ms Meehan said there was some concern over the impact of the land sales on the town of 800 people, 1000km west of Brisbane.

“I think there’s some mixed emotion with uncertainty about the changes that will come, depending on who bought them because it’s such a small community,” she said.

“Everyone knows each other and things stay the same but something like this could bring a lot of change. So there are mixed emotions but I think it can bring some really good changes.”

Land is selling fast in Quilpie.

Quilpie Shire Council chief executive Justin Hancock said interest had been “phenomenal”.

“We can’t wait to see the housing boom that’s set to follow,” he said.

“We’re thrilled with our first online auction results — it far exceeded our expectations.

“We look forward to giving the successful bidders a warm welcome to town.”

Mr Hancock said the online auction had allowed them to determine the true market value of the land.

“We have already had a higher return than council was expecting for the sale – and we’re expect a similar result from the next online auction today, so it means we will be able to invest more into this initiative,” he said.

The town has employment opportunities but is experiencing a shortage of housing to attract new people to the region which sparked the land sale.

Current jobs range from guides for 2022 at the Eromanga Natural History Museum to early childcare, mechanical, bar work, teachers at the State College and more.