Why investor unfazed by $500k loss on suburban showstopper home

A changed mindset among property owners is one of the reasons behind a shift in the market this quarter.

5 Pipers Point, Robina

ANALYSIS

IT was billed as the best house in Robina – a sprawling waterfront estate with showstopping features including a brand-new basketball court, in-house cinema, mini golf course and more.

Yet despite extensive renovations, the property at 5 Pipers Point sold under the hammer for $2.7m last month, falling short of the record-breaking $2.85m it fetched in June 2022.

Add in stamp duty and interest on top of the cost of renovations and local vendor Surjit Singh was down about $500,000 on his purchase.

“I’m a realist,” Mr Singh said.

“From all the financial indices and what is happening out there in the market, I knew the market had come down.”

“I’d rather take the hit now rather than take a bigger hit in 3 or 4 months’ time,” he said.

The house sold for a suburb-record price last year

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The 1990-built five-bedroom, four-bathroom house on a 2235sq m lot was marketed by Tina Nenadic, of Gold Coast Property Sales and Rentals.

“I think Tina did a great campaign. The number of people coming through was huge, we had 8 registered bidders on the day, and look, if that’s where those bidders thought the market was, then that’s the reality of what they’re prepared to pay,” Mr Singh said.

PropTrack data shows house prices in Robina were up almost 6 per cent over the past 12 months to a median of $1.045m on the back of huge growth through the pandemic boom.

The home cinema

Five-year trends show sale prices rose sharply between April 2021 and 2022, but have flatlined through the first quarter of this year.

Mr Singh’s pragmatic attitude coincides with a broader lift in the number of sales across Queensland, led by the Gold Coast.

While listings are still tight, more vendors have adjusted to the reality of the post-boom market, urging buyers to the negotiating table to close the deal.

A report by InfoTrack out this week shows home sales across Queensland jumped by nearly 60 per cent in the first three months of the year.

Local suburbs on the top ten list for the most house sales in the March quarter included Upper Coomera, Ormeau, Robina, Helensvale and Burleigh Waters.

The home has a self-contained guest wing

A further 7 Gold Coast postcodes were top ranked for unit sales:

Surfers Paradise, Southport, Hope Island, Broadbeach, Labrador, Palm Beach, and Burleigh Heads.

InfoTrack’s head of property Australia Lee Bailie said the latest market update showed vendors were starting to take stock of the current climate, following 10 interest rate hikes before this month’s hold at 3.6 per cent.

“While it was a slow start to the year, encouragingly, March seems to have bounced back to a similar level of transactions experienced in October and November 2022,” Mr Bailie said.

Mini putt-putt golf course

The home has five bedrooms and four bathrooms

PropTrack’s latest listings report also suggests vendor confidence is on the rise, with more homeowners putting their properties on the market in March.

In regional Queensland, new listings were up 13.4 per cent in March compared to February, while the overall number of homes listed for sale was nearly 5 per cent higher than in March 2022.

Brisbane also recorded a lift, with new listings on realestate.com.au up nearly 10 per cent since last month, though still down 16 per cent from last year.

For Mr Singh, who has also listed a renovated Miami beach shack for sale with a $6m price tag, it’s onwards and upwards.

“There’s always money to be made. If you take a hit in one place, you can make it up elsewhere,” he said.