Interstate buyers swoop on prestige Queensland properties

The reopening of the Queensland border is expected to keep the southeast market busy with sales over the traditionally quiet holiday period.

This elegant house on Kitchener Rd, Ascot, goes under the hammer this weekend.

The reopening of the Queensland border to Sydney and Melbourne is expected to keep the southeast market busy with sales over the traditionally quiet holiday period.

Prestige agents in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast were last week showing interstate buyers through homes for the first time in months, after the state’s premier Annastacia Palaszczuk lifted restrictions on December 1.

Buyers agent Jordan Navybox says pent-up demand from Sydney and Melbourne was waiting to be unleashed.

“No one in the buyer’s space is saying they will hold off. They are saying, ‘what have you got to show us right now’,” says Navybox, managing director of Cohen Handler’s Queensland division.

“They know the Brisbane luxury market is far cheaper and are coming here for the lifestyle and flexibility.

“They are looking now to be settled by the start of the 2021 school year.”

Property Pursuit director Meighan Wells says she has several buyers who are planning their holidays for late January to escape to the beach and look at prospective houses and apartments.

“There are a lot of people in Melbourne who have realised that without the sport and events, it is pretty boring and the weather is not great,” Wells says.

“We are doing a lot of pre-work with people and that will continue over Christmas. The risk for a lot of interstate buyers is applying interstate thinking to this market.

“COVID has made people realise they can have the best of both worlds: the lifestyle of Queensland and the ability to retain their executive-level job in Sydney in Melbourne.”

Both buyers agents agree the only thing that would hold buyers back is limited stock.

Data from SQM Research reveals that despite new stock coming on to the market in Brisbane through November, the total number of available properties shrunk by 3.8 per cent month-on-month as deals were struck on older listings.

The managing director of SQM, Louis Christopher, says the “surprise decline” in the figures through the spring selling season proved buyer activity was on the rise.

Earlier this week, Noosa agent Rebekah Offermann was able to show a Sydney buyer through his new home for the first time after he purchased the property off-market sight unseen for $10m.

“We have had plenty of inquiries from southern markets and many buyers who were happy to purchase sight unseen. On the other side, many did not want to spend millions of dollars without seeing the property. They have been waiting in the wings,” Offermann says.

“I think there will be a flurry of interstate activity coming up.

“We also have sellers who have been holding out for the same reason, thinking they don’t want to miss out on this segment of the market. So we may see more buyers and sellers.”

This weekend, several Brisbane Ray White agencies are banding together to auction off some of the city’s hottest luxury properties.

The art deco property at 68 Kitchener Rd, Ascot.

One of the properties is the grand Hollywood glamour-inspired home at 68 Kitchener Road, Ascot. The stylised interiors nod to iconic fashion designer Ralph Lauren and feature a crystal chandelier in the foyer.

Ray White New Farm principal and chief auctioneer Haesley Cush anticipates demand for quality prestige homes to build, particularly from expats and interstate buyers.

“We are now seeing expats looking at Brisbane as a safe, extraordinary and valued location with a lifestyle that is currently the envy of much of the world,” the auctioneer says.

“In the next few years, Brisbane will mature into an international city with the Queen’s Wharf precinct.

“Informed buyers from Sydney and Melbourne, coupled with the lessons of remote working, means that inquiry from southern buyers is fuelling strong demand for prestige property,” Cush adds.

The auction event will see 10 properties located across suburbs such as Ascot, Hamilton, Brookfield, New Farm, and Teneriffe, Yeronga and rural Highvale placed under the hammer on Saturday at The Calile Hotel in Fortitude Valley.