Buyers of resumed properties laughing all the way to the bank

KYLIE Dunn's gain was the taxpayer's pain as properties resumed for the ill-fated Traveston dam were auctioned at bargain prices.

Kylie Dunn

KYLIE Dunn's gain was the taxpayer's pain after rural properties resumed for the ill-fated Traveston dam north of Brisbane went under the hammer at bargain prices.

Ms Dunn and partner Corie McKie snapped up their corner of the Mary Valley for $300,000, when they expected it would cost up to $100,000 more.

If they're laughing their way to the bank, it's partly at the expense of the Queensland government, which is believed to have paid twice that to resume the property a decade ago to build the Traveston dam.

The deeply controversial project was blocked by Canberra on environmental grounds and the weekend auction of seven resumed properties tied up another batch of loose ends from that monumental waste of public money.

A cashed-up Ms Dunn, 34, who now works in Western Australia's goldmines, flew in for the auction with her eye on a 4.8ha home and land package at Wallaby Court, Carters Ridge.

A local girl, she had rented the four-bedroom house with Mr McKie and their two boys after it was resumed for the dam. "We were all set to go for that when we jumped ship," she says, explaining her change of mind on the morning of the auction on Saturday.

Instead, the family bid successfully on the lot at nearby Reeves Road, Imbil, 20 minutes' drive from the beach at Noosa and 90 minutes' to Brisbane airport. Their $300,000 went a long way in the Mary Valley: the 4.93ha property comes with a two-bedroom Queenslander that commands impressive views of the rolling countryside, and a machinery shed. The enclosed verandah has been turned into a sleepout that will do nicely for one of the boys.

"It is what we always wanted," Ms Dunn said. "It's just beautiful country, undulating, cleared, and you can see right across the valley. That's what sold us on it."

The auction in Gympie was the second of its kind, part of the Liberal National Party government's attempts to kick-start the local economy by luring home the locals who sold up or moved away when a dam was on the cards.

When the project collapsed, the state was left holding 13,000ha of resumed land, including more than 460 properties it had bought at the top of the market.

Real estate values have since fallen and industry figures said it was inevitable the properties would be sold at a loss.

One of the lots that went under the hammer on Saturday, with 12ha of river frontage, sold for less than a third of the $1 million it is believed to have cost the state government.

At the previous sale, buyers purchased properties for at least $100,000 less than the resumed prices.

Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development Jeff Seeney said the auction was part of an attempt to "restore the Mary Valley as the vibrant community it once was".