Brisbane property: Jackie Trad’s former investment property price surges

After courting controversy she disposed of this Brisbane home for the $695,000 she and her husband paid. Here’s what it would be worth to Jackie Trad now.

Former deputy premier Jackie Trad’s controversial real estate investment along the Cross River Rail line is worth over $1 million in today’s market, and set to surge given its location at the heart of the Brisbane Olympics 2032.

Realestate.com.au has “high confidence” the three-bedroom house in Woolloongabba – where the Brisbane Olympics opening ceremony is set to be centred – would sell for $1.06 million in today’s market, with the low end of the estimated value at over $850,000.

The estimated value was computer generated by PropTrack modelling local property data including the type of property, recent sales and local price trends.

Similar properties have already sold for between $876,000 (29 Henry St) and $915,000 (37 Mossgrove St) before Brisbane’s successful Olympics bid was confirmed this week.

Ms Trad and husband Damien Van Brunschot bought the property in March 2019 via their family company, VBT Investments for $695,000, and after major political fallout sold it that September for the same price.

Place Advisory had estimated in 2019 that the Cross River Rail project would add as much as 8 per cent within a few years to the value of the property – which would have taken it to around $750,600.

The investment property in Woolloongabba formerly owned by Jackie Trad and her husband

Today’s post-pandemic prices have far surpassed that, with the median house price in Woolloongabba for three bedders at $830,000, according to REA data.

Sam Peterffy of Harcourts Homeside Greenslopes, who sold Ms Trad and her husband the property in 2019, said the publicity as a result of the political fallout triggered a surge in professionals buying into the area.

“It’s interesting,” she said, “the publicity we got as part of that sale is the reason we’ve got so many professionals buying in.”

“About 60 per cent of my buyers now would be lawyers, doctors, accountants, engineers and also academics from UQ buying into the area. I’ve sold 13 houses in the last year, the most in the last five years and in the last nine months I’ve seen a conservative 15 per cent growth in house prices”

A property that was seeing interest of about $750,000 last year sold in the high $800,000s this year, she said.

“Recently I sold a two bedroom cottage not renovated or anything (114 Park Rd) for $915,000 on a really small block.”

The gold, she said, was “land, if you can get your hands on it, they’re not making more of it.”

Ms Trad, who was the minister in charge of the $5.4 billion Cross River Rail at the time of the Woolloongabba house purchase, stepped down after fallout over the real estate deal.

Jackie Trad lost her seat of South Brisbane at last year’s state election.

Originally published as Brisbane property: Jackie Trad’s former investment property price surges