Farmer drops $12m at auction on The Wheelhouse, Palm Beach in record breaking sale

Beachfront property is hot – and Palm Beach property is the hottest market in town. But an agent has given a dire warning after a record-breaking auction sale.

A FARMER from southwestern Queensland has paid a record-breaking $12 million at auction for a beachfront property at Palm Beach.

The unnamed bidder has secured two houses on an 826sq m site that runs between The Esplanade and the Gold Coast Highway.

The property was marketed as offering ‘the pinnacle of beachfront dual living’.

The Wheelhouse (centre) at Palm Beach.

Troy Dowker, of the Kollosche agency, said The Wheelhouse was essentially a family compound, with each of the houses having basement parking.

“My understanding is that the buyer has a large family, so it more than fits his purpose.”

Mr Dowker said the $12 million price was the highest paid south of Mermaid Beach for a Gold Coast residential beachfront property.

“The property is a unique one, a rare offering that showed great vision by the owners.”

The property has been home to Rex and Josie Neale, who have had commercial property interests from the Gold Coast to Mackay.

They built the beachfront home, which has six bedrooms and six basement carparks, in 2001.

The home that backs on to the highway was completed in 2014 and has three bedrooms and a six-car basement with a turntable.

Mr Dowker said 65 parties inspected the house and yesterday’s bidding started at $9m, paused for a period at $10.25m, and closed at $12m.

The price surpasses the record-setting $11.25m that retired Coolangatta accountant Noel Holmes paid in August for a home on Currumbin’s largest beachfront block.

Valuer Tod Gillespie, a director of HTW, said he never expected to see such prices paid in Palm Beach, especially for a tandem-block property.

“The market is getting similar to 2007, a peak that was followed by a market crash.”