Gold Coast beachfront home drops $5.5m in a few months

AFTER knocking back $14.5 million last year, a Gold Coast couple have seen their beachfront home go for $9 million at auction as the financial crisis bites.

SOLD for $5.5m less than previous offer ... the house on Marine Parade, Main Beach, that sold for $9 million at auction.

AFTER knocking back $14.5 million last year, a Gold Coast couple have seen their beachfront home go for $9 million at auction as the financial crisis bites.

The house on the Gold Coast's Marine Pde highlights the power of what former Treasurer Peter Costello 15 months ago dubbed the "financial tsunami".

As the mining industry this morning warns a Senate Inquiry about the "strength of speed" of the crisis and its impacts on jobs, the Queensland real estate industry is already feeling its power.

The beachside home, on 963sq m of land with 21m of direct ocean frontage, was bought for $13.5 million by Maxwell and Cleo Conrad in 2006.

The couple knocked back an offer of $14.5 million last year but yesterday were forced to swallow a hefty loss, as the house fetched just $9.01 million.

The couple had instructed marketing agent Ray White Broadbeach to sell the prime beachfront parcel for "whatever they could get".

Yesterday's bidding started at $5 million, but it soon became clear investors were being cautious.

The price inched up in increments of a few hundred thousand dollars before a late bid from the undisclosed buyer pipped a Brisbane investor by just $10,000.

Agent Michael Kollosche said the sale was a sign of the times.

"We've now hit the bottom of the market and a lot of people's circumstances have changed," he said.

"They (the Conrads) knew they were at the whim of the market but they just wanted it sold."