Hollywell waterfront home on the Gold Coast highlights Australia Day weekend auctions
A five-bedroom Hollywell home on the Gold Coast was the pick of the long weekend auctions, with $9,888,000 sealing the deal for a property with over 20m of water frontage.
A $9,888,000 sale on the Gold Coast in Queensland was the highlight of the long weekend’s coastal auctions.
The on-site Kollosche auction was conducted by auctioneer Justin Nickerson on the grassy edge of the 907sq m Hollywell waterfront holding.
The underbidder for the five-bedroom, six-bathroom Abel Tasman Place home had offered $9.75m.
With 20.3m water frontage, it comes with a tiled infinity-edge pool and a north-facing sandy beach with pontoon. It fronts a protected waterway just a short cruise from open water.
There are views to Ephraim, Crab and South Stradbroke islands from the three-storey home that has 723sq m of internal living space, with an additional 192sq m under roof.
There is an alfresco entertaining area featuring a built-in bar with beer on tap, plus a gym and half-basketball court.
The listing attracted 8100 page views on realestate.com.au in the lead-up to its Friday auction.
The property had set the suburb’s record price of $6m in 2008, which dipped to $5.75m on its purchase in 2009 by Bob Hill, best known for founding Adco Constructions in 1972 and the Rivergate Marina Shipyard on the Brisbane River at Murrarie in 2006.
The property held the suburb record until early last year when the neighbouring 1450sq m property with 36m frontage fetched $7m through local agent Alex Phillis.
Hollywell has seen strong growth, with PropTrack calculating its median house price is $1,425,000, up 15 per cent over the past year.
Sahara sells for $5.7m
Sahara, a Portsea trophy home on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, sold for $5.7m under the hammer on Saturday.
It was the only prestige weekend auction offering at Portsea, a far cry from the heyday that saw competing auctions held by rival agencies at the same time every Australia Day long weekend.
The six-bedroom, four-bathroom residence Campbells Road listing attracted a crowd of 80 who gathered on and around the championship tennis court at the 2300sq m holding.
There were four bidders after the prompt $4.8m opening bid, which was followed by a rapid tennis-like rally between the initial two bidders placed on either side of the net.
It was announced on the market at $5.51m by Jeremy Fox at RT Edgar who had given $5m to $5.5m price guidance.
The announcement prompted two other bidders to join the bidding.
The house, built 22 years ago from Mt Gambier limestone, had attracted 4100 page views on realestate.com.au.
It last sold for $3.9m in 2015.
It was listed by a trust company associated with the late Garry Dumbrell, founder of the automotive parts and accessories business Autobarn, who died in 2021.
Tennis, anyone?
For decades the Australia Day long weekend saw not only big-occasion onsite auctions, but also the tennis tournament hosted by the late property developer Jonathan “Jonno” Edgar.
It was an era when Portsea claimed more tennis courts per capita than anywhere in Australia.
Edgar’s Portsea’s Battler’s Cup was an institution. Snapshots by the late society photographer Rennie Ellis at an 1980s tournament are kept on digital files at the State Library of Victoria, including one of veteran local agent Gerald Delany in his classic Panama hat.
Edgar was a mate of the former prime minister and local, Harold Holt, and in December 1967 Edgar, then a 23-year-old estate agent, had a 4pm spearfishing session scheduled with Holt on the day he drowned.
One of Edgar’s many former Portsea home projects was Melaluna, diagonally opposite Sahara on Campbells Road, with its north-south championship-size tennis court surrounded by Moonah trees.
The property remains in the names of the executors of the late cricket star Shane Warne. The former champion leg spinner had bought the 4023sq m property with bluestone house in 2020 for $3.6m.
Brutal approach
The latest private treaty offering on the pricey Portsea waterfront is the modern brutalist-style Point Nepean Road house located closest to the Portsea Pier.
It has been listed with $17m to $18.7m guidance through David Gillham of RT Edgar with its expressions of interest campaign seeking offers by January 30.
The five-bedroom, five-bathroom house with plenty of imported travertine and sustainably sourced plantation teak was designed in 2017 by B.E. Architecture for a retired couple.
The property last sold for $4m in 2014 when bought by the late estate agent Mike Jenkins and his wife Monica.
The coastal home has a multi-generational design with two dedicated spaces for guests, including separate kitchens.
The lower level offers a living room with an open fireplace, with stacker doors opening to the covered poolside area, while upstairs has a terrace with barbecue.
There is also parking for six cars.
Portsea’s median house price sits at $3,215,000, down 1.1 per cent annually, and well down on its $3.81m median in 2022, according to PropTrack.
There is just the one pricey bathing box for sale at Portsea, Beach Box 28 Shelley Beach, that comes with a $910,000 to $1m price guide.
Auction action
Auction activity is slowly picking up, with 440 capital city homes taken to auction last week, up from 262 in the prior week. One year ago 476 homes were taken to auction. Of the 253 results collected so far, there was a 64 per cent national preliminary clearance rate, according to CoreLogic research analyst Caitlin Fono.
Melbourne was the busiest auction market with 229 homes taken to auction, compared to just 64 homes in Sydney. Sydney’s priciest scheduled auction, a McLean Avenue, Chatswood offering with $3.9m guidance, had its auction pushed back to February 22.
Adelaide hosted 69 homes and achieved the highest result with 76 per cent of the 46 results collected so far finding buyers.
There were 61 auctions in Brisbane, returning a 55 per cent success rate. Eight auctions were held in the ACT, with just two reporting a successful result so far.
There were eight auctions held in Perth with two results reported so far, both selling under the hammer. The Tasmanian offering sold pre-auction.
The number of auctions across the capitals rises to 1300 auctions this week.
Home on the Grange
The most viewed residential listing on realestate.com.au last week was in the NSW Hunter region at Louth Park, with city views over Maitland.
Louth Grange, a seven-bedroom, four-bathroom house that sits on 3.59ha, comes with $3.3m hopes through Adam Carruthers at Peters Real Estate.
The 59 Reflection Drive property has now attracted 25000 page views.
The vendor is the agency principal Tim Peters, who bought the lifestyle block in 2005 for $300,000.
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