Govt pays 3 times median house price for unliveable derelict home
The government has beaten 63 other buyers to buy an ‘uninhabitable’ derelict home for $3.3m, three times the median house price. SEE WHY
The government has beaten 63 other buyers to buy an ‘uninhabitable’ derelict home for more than three times the median house price.
The huge $3.3m price paid was a massive gain for the sellers - a Melbourne-based childcare centre operator and developer behind Explorers Early Learning who has done no work on the site itself since buying the side-by-side blocks in June 2021 off Albert Wang and Zong-Gee Wang via investment company JML Property Cannon Hill Pty.
The Queensland government offered $3.3m in an expressions of interest campaign for the property which is 330 per cent that of the median house price listed in the latest PropTrack Home Price Index for Brisbane of $998,000 and more than double that of Cannon Hill.
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The site is just 6km east of the Brisbane CBD and 3.1km to the Gateway Motorway.
Tom Barr of RWC Queensland and Matthew Fritzsche of Ray White Special Projects Qld., who led the sales campaign, said the price represented a site rate of $1,759 per square metre for the site which is on busy Wynnum Road in Cannon Hill.
Among those vying for the 1,876sq m property was The State of Queensland, builder-developers, private investors, and social and affordable housing providers.
“We are seeing a significant shift in buyer dynamics,” Mr Fritzsche said. “Alongside builder-developers, the State of Queensland has emerged as one of the most competitive and strategic purchasers in this asset class.”
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Melbourne-based developer-owner-operator of childcare centres, Explorers Early Learning, had bought the site planning to expand into Queensland, filing for development approval for material change of use on site with the Brisbane City Council. That development application was still in progress according to BCC documents.
Mr Fritzsche said “Explorers Early Learning saw the opportunity to reposition their investment strategy, which enabled the State to secure a well-located urban site suitable for future affordable housing delivery”.
A statement said the sale was part of a broader trend of increased government intervention in the housing market, particularly in metropolitan areas where there is high rental stress and limited new housing supply.
‘The State of Queensland has been actively acquiring residential development sites to address the pressing housing crisis. This includes land suitable for new apartment projects, as well as existing apartment buildings, aged care facilities, and hotels that can be repurposed for social and affordable housing.”
The 1,876sq m site is over two titles and zoned Medium Density Residential (MDR) with 5 storey building height and over 37 metres of main road frontage.
It is just 350 metres from Cannon Hill Train Station and close to schools, early learning, hotels, and the Coles and Kmart anchored Cannon Hill Plaza Shopping centre.
Originally published as Govt pays 3 times median house price for unliveable derelict home