Bidders brave rough weather on Saturday morning for a chance at their new family home
Dozens gathered on a rainy morning to see a home sell at auction, while other houses saw strong turnout despite Cyclone Alfred’s delays.
Dozens of people faced a torrent of rain this morning for the sake of watching a five-bedroom, four-bathroom home sell in their neighbourhood for millions of dollars.
The house at 14 Macintosh St, Auchenflower, had recently been renovated by its old owners, who were moving down to the Gold Coast.
But with an 8am auction on Saturday and wet weather conditions continuing into Brisbane’s autumn season, Place Paddington agent Toni Pallent said they were getting concerned about the numbers.
“We opened it up for half an hour prior, and there was no one there,” she said. “We were getting a bit worried – but then, lots of people turned up.”
“We ended up having a full house in the last ten minutes, prior to the auction starting. Everyone turned up last minute, running through the rain, and we ended up having a good turnout.”
Agent Simon Wheelans said while there were only two registered bidders, around two dozen people went over to the auction just to see who would win the property.
“People around the location are still interested in what’s happening with these types of properties when they go on the market,” he said, referring to larger family homes in the neighbourhood.
With a starting bid of $2.5 million, the bidding went back and forth until pausing – and a negotiation with the winning buyer meant the property went for a total of $2.8m.
The buyers were an Adelaide family moving interstate for work, beating out the underbidder who had placed an offer prior to auction.
It’s not the only family home that went for north of $2m in the last few days. A four-bedroom two-bathroom house at 93 Stephen St, Camp Hill, attracted 10 registered bidders despite a campaign shortened by Cyclone Alfred.
The auction took place on Thursday, with 8 active bidders all eagerly involved as the auction went on.
Place Camp Hill agent Joanna Gianniotis said despite weather troubles, people were still just as eager to get themselves a home in today’s competitive auction market.
“Because of Alfred, we only had a very short campaign,” she said. “And we [still] had 92 groups come through.”
Starting at 1.8m, Ms Gianniotis said bidding “started high and just kept on going,” with the offer finally capping out at $2.05m.
The home went from a downsizing couple to a younger family with teenage children, looking to upsize from their previous spot.
Ms Gianniotis said $2m family homes were facing high demand and limited supply in 2025.
“The buyer pool is expansive … [but] there’s not enough houses to buy in that pool,” she said.
As another example, the four-bedroom, two-bathroom property at 48 Kelsey St, Coorparoo, found 6 registered bidders on Thursday – with three of the active bidders all being “hyper local owners” keen to buy again in the area.
Place Bulimba agent Darcy Lord said the auction was aggressive from a starting bid of $1.6m, all the way to $1.9m.
Once the home’s price rose to $1.97m, the house was declared on the market – but it wasn’t until the bid reached $2.03m was the home sold to a young professional couple, who lived around the corner.
“It was a very contended property,” Mr Lord said. “It goes to show homes with great floor plans in great spots just continue to sell.”
Originally published as Bidders brave rough weather on Saturday morning for a chance at their new family home