Surf champ Mick Fanning sells Bilinga house on Gold Coast for over $16m

Surfing champion Mick Fanning has pocketed $16.05m in pre-auction deal, with his striking three-level southern Gold Coast home selling to another local family.

Mick Fanning lived in the trophy home before converting it into a $7600-a-night holiday rental.

Surfing champion Mick Fanning has pocketed $16.05m in an Easter eve, pre-auction deal for his southern Gold Coast offering.

Rolling Seas, his Bilinga property, sold to a local family through Kollosche Prestige.

Its open-for-inspection campaign was slightly delayed in late February due to ex-Cyclone Alfred hitting southern Queensland, although its auction date was ­always scheduled for April 24 through Troy Dowker.

The striking three-level home had attracted 128 inquiries followed by 28 private inspections through Dowker who advised on social media that there had been 15,467 pageviews on realestate .com.au and 4475 on Domain during its extended marketing campaign. It was marketed as “a one-of-a-kind coastal sanctuary.”

Fanning, who starred in an “icons heat” on Good Friday at the RipCurl Pro Bells Beach event, lived in the trophy home before converting it into a $7600-a-night holiday rental.

Set on a 1030sq m block of land fronting the sand at 291 Golden Four Drive, the dwelling has space to sleep up to 12 people, across two villas.

The three-time world champion, who has two children with partner Breanna Randall, bought the dress-circle property for $3.25m in 2011.

It was built by BGM Built Constructions with 753sq m of internal space and 217sq m of external space to its design by Christian Butler, with interiors by Sydney-based Three Birds Renovations.

PropTrack data shows Bilinga house prices soared 54 per cent over the past year, hitting a $2,582,500 median after 12 sales.

The Bilinga price record had stood at $14.5m when the Pacific Parade property, Lazy Days, sold last June to Craig Jones from the MooGoo skincare company and Nicole Lovrics.

Former hotspot quiet

Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula was once an Easter auction hotspot, but not anymore.

There was just the one sales advisory when the three-bedroom, one-bathroom house at 8 Morgan Street, Rosebud fetched $915,000.

The auction price guide had been $830,000 to $890,000 for the 1950s house last sold in 2006, for $251,000.

9 Black Point Drive, Black Point.

The timber house was marketed by Paul Cunnington at Belle Property as “a coastal escape with the promise for more”.

It sits four streets from the beach on a 801sq m holding.

It was the surf coast that recorded Victoria’s top sales result when the three-bedroom, one- bathroom house at 10 Fern Avenue, Lorne fetched $1.97m.

10 Fern Avenue, Lorne.

It had come with $1,595,000 to $1,695,000 price guidance through David Baldry of Smyth Real Estate. The elevated home last sold in 2000, for $100,000.

The Easter coastal auctions will continue on Monday with an offering at Black Point on the east coast of Yorke Peninsula, about 72km from Adelaide.

The 2021 dress-circle 9 Black Point Drive property comes with a $1.85m price guide from Nathan Casserly at Ouwens Casserly Real Estate.

Sales slow across board

Tim Lawless at CoreLogic noted the traditional drop in sales activity over the Easter break.

The 652 auction listings were well down on the 901 during the Easter period a year ago.

“The preliminary clearance rate across the combined capitals fell to 64.7 per cent, the lowest so far this year, down slightly from the 64.8 per cent in the week prior which revised down to 57.6 per cent on final numbers,” Lawless said. He added that given the lower volume, the week’s preliminary auction statistics should be interpreted with some caution.

Adelaide, with the highest capital city clearance rate at 68.6 per cent, had 51 homes scheduled to go under the hammer.

Brisbane was home to 60 auctions, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 55 per cent, while the second-weakest market was the ACT with a 55.6 per cent clearance rate. Perth and Hobart had less than a handful of auctions.

Sydney hosted the most auctions – 358 homes – down from 414 auctions over the 2024 Easter period. Its preliminary clearance rate rose slightly to 67.9 per cent, but it was still the fifth consecutive week where the early clearance rate has been sub-70 per cent.

Sydney’s highest-notified auction outcome was $2,025,000 when a four-bedroom, two-bathroom South Turramurra house was sold.

First National agent David Bokor offered the 1965 house at 27 Robin Avenue to the market for the first time in 30 years.

Sydney’s next priciest auction advisory was the $1,492,000 sale of the four-bedroom, two-bathroom house at Schofields, in western Sydney. The 2017-built home sits on a 457sq m Wildflower Street block that cost $420,000 in 2014.

It was sold through Ray White agent Amit Kumar, who had given a $1.18m price guide.

Auctions to bounce back

Just 153 homes went to auction in Melbourne, down from 283 held over the Easter period in 2024.

Its preliminary clearance rate dropped to 61.1 per cent to the lowest preliminary result since last September.

Melbourne’s top sale was at Glen Waverley when $1.86m was paid for the three-bedroom, one-bathroom brick house at 10 Padua Court. The price guide started its marketing campaign at $1.28m to $1.38m, which was increased to $1.4m to $1.45m by its BigginScott agents Jing Chen and Ming Xu.

National auction volume should bounce back to about 1060 this week before rising to about 1480 in the following week.

“However post-Easter auction activity is normally lower than pre-Easter until the spring season commences,” Lawless added.

Forfeited property sells

The past week’s top auction result was a Sydney penthouse apartment at The Rocks, which sold for $15m.

The bidding opened at $12m, having come with an initial guide of $17.5m.

The four-bedroom, four-bathroom Harrington penthouse, which sold through Daniel Baran and Christian Todorovski of Highland Property, was announced in the market at $14.5m when the opening bidder upped his prior $14.05m offer.

The announcement by auctioneer Clarence White was followed by bids from two of the seven registered bidders.

Its 2018 off-the-plan settlement was registered at $17.5m in 2021.

Located at 802/85 Harrington Street, the penthouse spans the top two floors of the nine-storey building developed by Golden Age, who teamed with engineering company Hannas Group on the project.

It has 455sq m of internal space, and most of the top floor is a terrace with garden, built-in barbecue and spa.

The property was marketed as “on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia”, after an August 2024 order of the County Court of Victoria under the proceeds of crime act. The forfeiture was secured under Operation Cabestro, a joint operation by the Australian Border Force and Australian Federal Police, which uncovered a liquor cartel engaging in excise importation fraud.

Trending online

The most viewed residential listing on realestate.com.au last week was 27 Trusting Lane, White Gum Valley in Western Australia, which has since gone under offer.

27 Trusting Lane, White Gum Valley.

Found in the heart of White Gum Valley, the unrenovated property secured a $1.13m offer through Louise Pope from White House Property Partners.

Built by Ross Squire Homes in the 1980s, the property attracted more than 17,000 page views on ­realestate.com.au during its marketing campaign.