Rooms with the most views
Pandemic-fuelled penchant for private paradises continues post-Covid
A lush 20,000sqm equestrian city stunner, a mountain hideaway with helipad, and tiny Gold Coast hinterland cottage on a castle estate are the hottest homes listed for sale this year.
Stonebrook in Brisbane blitzed every property for sale across Queensland in 2023, with 140,000 views of the $18m listing, according to realestate.com.au data by PropTrack.
Its closest rival was Stonelea, a $17.5m mountainside escape in the Noosa Hinterland. The Gold Coast’s tiny cottage within an estate with a castle was next.
Prestige agent Tyson Clarke, who marketed Stonebrook via Queensland Sotheby’s International Realty Brisbane, said: “Since Covid-19, there’s been a push for more space, more privacy, with these luxury resort style homes. You could be a million miles away, but you’re only 20 minutes out of the city.”
Mr Clarke said the architect, owner and everyone involved in Stonebrook – on London Road, Chandler – “wanted it to feel like they were coming home to their own private resort every day”.
“It feels like you leave the rest of the world behind you and you enter into your own luxurious piece of paradise.”
Mr Clarke said overall confidence in southeast Queensland’s high-end market was ramping up, especially the $10m-plus range.
“When you’ve got that much money to spend, you can get an absolutely amazing property in Brisbane for a fraction of what it might cost in any of the other capital cities.”
Among indulgences of Stonebrook was a 1559sq m main house with its luxury kitchen’s Gaggenau and Sub Zero appliances, a bar inspired by Singapore’s iconic Raffles hotel and resort-style activities including a private golf driving range, cinema, billiards room, wine cellar, saltwater pool, entertainment terrace and pavilion, gym, Finnish sauna, custom circular firepit and basketball half court. A self-contained guest wing sleeps nine.
The most popular Gold Coast listing – on Tamborine Mountain’s Main Western Road was a quaint one-bedroom cottage within a shortterm accommodation estate with its own castle.
Kollosche Broadbeach’s Kara Christensen described the fully self-contained cottage as a “lucrative lifestyle opportunity” with the realestate.com.au listing viewed over 61,000 times.
The property is opposite Witches Falls, 100m from the national park and 40 minutes drive from Gold Coast beaches.
Queensland’s overall second highest views was luxurious Stonelea on Cooroy Mountain Road, Sunshine Coast. It racked up over 77,000 views.
Queensland Sotheby’s International Realty Noosa Heads agent Graham Smith said the 6.5ha property was just a 20-minute drive from popular Hastings Street in Noosa but was private and secure with its own helipad and special building for cars with washing bays.
“With the internet and connectivity, you don’t need to be in a built up area,” Mr Smith said. “The hinterland in Byron Bay is probably more popular than the heart of Byron Bay itself, and it’s the same trend coming through to the Sunshine Coast and Noosa – especially this time of year when it’s so busy with traffic and people. You want to come down occasionally and have a dip in the ocean or coffee and escape to the hinterland only 20 minutes away.”
“Five years ago it was hard to get people in this Noosa hinterland area to travel west of the highway. Now the Bruce Highway is no longer a mental block at all.”