SUPER SALES
THE EVENT AUCTION
IN a fitting initial buy, a retired couple from country NSW snapped up the first lot at an annual Gold Coast all-day property auction that became a frenzy due to pandemic-driven demand.
The Event at RACV Royal Pines Resort this year attracted a record number of inquiries, bidders and lots.
Chief auctioneer and Ray White Surfers Paradise CEO Andrew Bell attributed the phenomenal interest in the 29th year of the big auction to the coronavirus pandemic.
Demand for residential and investment properties was at an alltime high, which had also resulted in a rental shortage across the Gold Coast, Mr Bell said.
He added: “It’s the biggest program we have ever had.
“Investor numbers are not as high as we’d like because there is a dire need for investors at the moment.
“The homeowner has been most prominent, and people from down south are buying properties as a getaway from COVID and stay here because they can’t go overseas.”
On average, they usually had fewer than 100 registered bidders but this year interest had tripled, Mr Bell said.
“We’ve had well over 6000 people inquire and there have been more than 3700 physical inspections,” Mr Bell said. “We’ve had 300 bidders register before the auction and usually we have less than 100.”
Mr Bell took little more than four minutes to bring the hammer down on the first of more than 90 lots, a four-level villa, with a lift, on upmarket Chevron Island.
The three-bedroom home sold for $1.2m, with Goulburn retiree Noel Hollingworth the successful bidder.
“It’s a retirement place for us. We had a look at a lot of other places and my sister-in-law lives on Chevron Island, so we will all be together now.”
IT’S real estate’s equivalent of the Magic Millions thoroughbred sales.
Dozens of blue ribbon lots, paraded before hundreds of prospective bidders at the nation’s largest auction on the Gold Coast on Sunday.
By 5pm, properties worth more than $35m had sold under the hammer, with 40 per cent of the program still to be auctioned at The Event hosted by Ray White Surfers Paradise.
A crowd of more than 400 buyers, sellers and investors packed the conference room of the RACV Royal Pines Resort at Benowa, as 315 registered bidders vied for the largest collection of properties in the auction’s 29-year history. More than 130 diverse properties were to be auctioned over two days.
Ray White Surfers Paradise CEO Andrew Bell took the stage with colleague Mitch Peereboom as 112 properties went under the hammer.
Another 13 sold before prior, three properties were withdrawn and four postponed until February, with the remainder to be auctioned at The Event’s Prestige auction on Thursday.
By 5pm, the clearance rate was 79 per cent and expected to rise as sales were finalised in coming days. Listings ranged from one-bedroom apartments and entire unit blocks, to luxury waterfront homes and acreage.
The atmosphere was charged as buyers competed for a slice of the country’s biggest property pie. The highest bid on the day was $2.7m for a 17-bedroom resort at 44 Queen Street Southport, while the lowest price paid was $315,000 for a two-bedroom apartment in the Chevron Renaissance building in Ferny Avenue, Surfers Paradise.
Mr Bell said the market was the most competitive he’d seen in many years. Of registered bidders, 70 per cent were from Queensland and the rest from interstate.
“Local and interstate buyers have come out in force today to reinforce the fact that the post-COVID environment is ushering in a golden era for the Gold Coast,” Mr Bell said.
“People have accelerated their decision making when it comes to buying property. They want to be on the Gold Coast in some way, shape or form, whether as owneroccupiers or investors.”
Mr Bell said they started collecting properties for Sunday’s auction a number of months ago because of a shortage of quality stock.
“About September last year, we could see a shortage that was looming so we set about identifying the most desirable properties,” Mr Bell said. “We spent several months putting this together. We did squirrel them away.”
First-home buyers Brittan Wood and Jade Bradford fought it out against a phone bidder to secure a five-bedroom home at 72 Alicia Street, Southport for $718,000.
The couple said they were set on purchasing the sevenyear-old home as soon as they inspected it last week.
“It looked perfect for us,” Mr Wood said. “It definitely got intense out there. I wasn’t sure if we were going to get it.”
The 506sq m home was purpose-built for dual living and has a swimming pool and two-car garage.
Other notable transactions included a 7.44 acre equine property at 450 Guanaba Creek Road, Guanaba, which sold under the hammer for $1.675m; a four-bedroom waterfront home at 2 Helen Court in Broadbeach Waters which went for $1.202m; and a riverfront cottage at 51 Waddiwong Road, Coomera for $995,000.