Noosa agency racks up $9m in prime sales in afternoon

A MULTIMILLION-dollar afternoon of auctions has continued the upswing in the Sunshine Coast property market.

A MULTIMILLION-dollar afternoon of auctions has continued the upswing in the Sunshine Coast property market.

Good crowds and strong bidding at recent auctions have been good indicators of the market, and the sale of two properties yesterday for millions of dollars has continued the trend.

A prime Witta Circle waterront property sold through Eric Seetoo of Tom Offermann Real Estate for what was believed to be $6.5 million.

Due to the quality and position of the property, as well as the insistence on privacy by those involved, the auction was limited to registered bidders.

The four-bedroom house at 25 Witta Circle, Noosa Sound, features a pontoon jetty and concrete boat slipway, and enjoys a north-east aspect in what is arguably Noosa's benchmark precinct. It also comes with a sandy beach, a glass-walled office looking out to a wet-edge pool, and a walk-in, temperature-controlled cellar.

TOP POSITION: This waterfront property at 25 Witta Circle, Noosa Sound, has been sold under the hammer, reportedly for $6.5 million. Picture: Contributed

A previous sale in Witta Circle of $8 million remains the Sunshine Coast record.

Just hours after the Noosa sale, an original beach house at 32 Arakoon Cres, Sunshine Beach, sold at auction for $2.93 million, again with Tom Offermann as the agent.

Milan Markanovic and Cameron Urquhart saw bidding from $2 million for the multi-level house - thought to be about 40 years old.

It was called on the market at $2.8 million and bidding continued in $50,000, $25,000, $10,000 and finally $5000 rises, with a Brisbane phone bidder successful.

The way the market has performed in the past two weekends indicates buyers sense the time and conditions are right to invest before prices lift.

REIQ Sunshine Coast zone chair Amber Werchon said there were more registered bidders going to auctions, more properties selling under the hammer and more optimism in the marketplace right across the Coast.

"Auctions are a good way of seeing on the day what is happening in the market,'' Ms Werchon said.

"The market has not only recovered in most price ranges since the re-adjustments of the past couple of years, but it is improving.

"The top end is taking longer, as it always does, but the future looks optimistic for those too. And this just isn't in the prime positions - it is spreading to secondary locations also.

"Agents in some cases are even getting surprised by the results at auctions.

"I think buyers are realising that if they don't buy under the hammer, there will be conditional buyers waiting for them to pass in.

"The reality is there are less properties on the market than there are buyers. The tide has turned."

Auctioneer Gordon Macdonald, who sold more than $10 million of property under the hammer yesterday, said the Coast was balanced between sellers willing to meet the market and buyers wanting to come in.

SUNSHINE BEACH: An original beach house in Arakoon Cres. Picture: CONTRIBUTED