$10.4m not enough to secure Brisbane riverfront idyll
Brisbane’s riverfront saw the nation’s top weekend auction bid with $10.4m offered for the Hawthorne home of Hancock Prospecting’s Daniel Wade. But the three-level home failed to sell.
Brisbane’s riverfront saw the nation’s top weekend auction bid when $10.4m was offered for the Hawthorne home of Hancock Prospecting’s general manager of business development, Daniel Wade.
But the three-level home failed to sell.
There were three bidders who placed six bids through Sarah Hackett at Place Estate Agents at the auction, which had been pushed back a week.
The 2004-built home with 23.8m river frontage had been bought in August 2020 for $9.9m by Gina Rinehart’s right-hand man who then subsequently updated the home’s 505sqm internal living space.
It sits on 1619sqm with views of the city, not far from Rinehart’s abode.
Auctioneer Peter Burgin had sought $11m bids, but after a 13-minute pause in proceedings passed the home in.
“We’re not seeking instant gratification just to get a sale under the hammer,” Burgin advised the auction, which was streamed by The Courier-Mail.
“It would be prudent on behalf of our client to go beyond the auction environment.”
Wade retains a $20m Noosa home, and an abode back in Perth at City Beach. “Although I love being in Queensland, my working life dictates I can’t be there as much as I’d like to be,” Wade said during its marketing.
Busy in Brisbane
It was a busy, successful weekend for Brisbane prestige offerings.
The top sale was a 1910 colonial home in Clayfield sold by Ray White agents Tom Lyne and Matt Lancashire.
The six-bedroom home, with a tennis court on its 1946sqm holding, sold for $6.2m to a local family. There were just the two registered – and active – bidders for the home that had sold at $4.67m in 2017.
Its prior owners included Lyn and John Parche, the tourism industry operators, and the Roberts-Thomson pastoralist family, who were founding shareholders in Hutchison Telecommunications Australia.
A Graya-built home at 98 Howard St, Paddington fetched $4.45m, having traded at $3m when newly built in 2019, when bought by web design company director Andreas Zhou.
The three-level home with 422sqm internal space was designed by architect Tim Stewart. But the newly built Hamilton spec build by Lion Property Group founder John Sader failed to sell. The three-level, five-bedroom, five-bathroom modern Queenslander at 62 Toorak Rd was passed in on a $8.9m vendor bid.
All up, Brisbane scored a commendable 62 per cent success rate, which, while the nation’s weakest outcome, appears consistent with the overall strengthening of the national auction market.
Highest result in a year
Sydney had the nation’s strongest success rate at 78 per cent from the 545 results collected so far by CoreLogic.
The highest result since last February was “quite the turn of events”, CoreLogic’s Tim Lawless noted. “The stronger auction results will be a trend to watch.
“There is a historically strong correlation between auction clearance rates and housing values.”
Housing analyst Dr Andrew Wilson reckons the early-season auction market was “now generally reflective of a clearly emerging sellers’ market”.
But auctioneer Tom Panos noted while he sold all seven listings, the “sold prices are nothing flash”.
Sydney had the nation’s top sale when a Pyrmont penthouse fetched $7.15m. The three-bedroom 16th-floor Cadigal Ave, Pyrmont apartment sold through Morton Pyrmont agents Ian Qiu and Naomie Texier after 2750 views on realestate.com.au. There were four registered bidders.
The apartment in the 2003-built McCaffreys Tower, Jacksons Landing development had last sold at $2.2m in 2004, having sold at $1.3m off the plan in 2000.
It has 244sqm space with views of Sydney Harbour Bridge.
“It was very competitive bidding,” Qiu said.
Market ‘engine’
Melbourne’s top two auction sales were in Kew, amid its 67 per cent overall success rate from the 669 results collected so far by CoreLogic.
There was a $5.35m sale of the four-bedroom, four-bathroom contemporary house at 63 Molesworth St that has a lift between its three levels.
There was also a five-bedroom, two-bathroom house at 7 Mawson St that fetched $4,408,000. The price guide had been $3.8m to $4.18m.
There were five bidders when it sold through Kay & Burton, who’d also sold it at $3,405,000 in late 2020.
The home had been listed as a $1250 weekly rental in the interim.
Buyers agent Mal James noted the Boroondara precinct had become “Melbourne’s main driver, with the dominant Asian-Australian market as the engine”.
“This $2m to $10m engine will only rev louder as Chinese numbers and money continue to return to Australia,” James said.
“If Boroondara catches fire, then all of Melbourne will feel the heat.”
Upsize, downsize
The custom-built, four-level Richmond home of HelpPay co-founder Andrew Ellett sold for $4.2m after being listed with a $2.7m-$2.9m guide from its out-of-area Ray White agent.
There were five bidders for the four-bedroom home with study on its 321sqm Somerset St holding. The final two bidders added around $700,000 to the sale price. The bidders were a mix of upsizers and downsizers.
It was marketed as a fully wired CBUS smart home, built four years after the block cost $940,500 in 2010.
The fintech entrepreneur and his wife, Jacquie, are set to buy an older-style home they will renovate closer to their daughter’s school.
They retain a St Andrews Beach weekender.
Capital cottage
Canberra’s top sale was a modern, four-bedroom, single-level home on Willcock Pl, Curtin that fetched $2,875,000.
There was a $2,685,000 pre-auction sale of a 1930s Barton cottage, which was designed by acclaimed architect Kenneth Oliphant.
Its Belle selling agent, Louise Harget, had given $2.5m plus guidance. The 815sqm Telopea Park holding last traded at $1,485,000 in 2018 prior to its modern extension overseen by heritage architect Philip Leeson.
Supply surge
PropTrack economist Anne Flaherty calculates that auction volumes rise this week, with 2700 scheduled around Australia, up from 2000 last week. The following week will see a dip to 2200.
Estate agents are starting to sign up their pre-Easter auction offerings, which will provide the best test as to the level of buyer depth as the supply surges to a seasonal peak.
Rick Woodward, at The Agency on the Sydney’s north shore, noted current 2023 stock levels were running at less than half the normal volume.
Woodward had eight registered bidders, after 150 groups went through the weekend auction offering of a four-bedroom, two-storey Willoughby home.
It fetched $3.24m having come with an original $2.6m price guide.
“The stock is very, very light out there at the moment,” he said.
Agents advise Competing Bids the slim volume reflects “discretionary vendors”, with few signs yet of vendors compelled by coming off their fixed-rate mortgages.
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