The Event of the season
Hundreds of buyers, sellers and spectators packed into Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast on Sunday to watch dozens of properties go under the hammer at Ray White’s annual auction day The Event.
Auctioneers Andrew Bell and Dave McMahon were kept on their toes as bids came in hard and fast throughout the day with 3000 expected through the doors.
The hammer came down regularly with most properties attracting multiple bids from the floor or via phone.
Among the notable sales was a luxury beachfront apartment at 2/3565 Main Beach Pde, Main Beach that sold for $6.35m.
A four-bedroom waterfront home at 2321 Cressbrook Drive, Hope Island attracted 11 bids including an opening bid of $3m before it sold for $4.45m.
A bid of $796,666 for a property at 1 William Nixon Way, Edens Landing had the crowd laughing while it eventually sold to the same bidder for $797,999.
Several commercial properties also sold under the hammer including 7 Price St, Southport ($2.5m) and 16/37 Blanck St, Ormeau ($690,000).
Mr Bell, who was the original founder of The Event concept, said the day often set a precedent of what was to come in the city throughout the year.
“I love the fact that all eyes are focused on the Gold Coast to see what the real estate market is like for the year, it’s a big profile,” Mr Bell said.
“There’s nervousness and people concerned about interest rates and all those things but there still is a driven need of people wanting to buy a home.”
Total sales figures and the clearance rate were unable to be provided before deadline.
The Event featured 127 properties from studios and one-bedroom apartments, to sky homes and penthouses with several selling before the big day.
The number of auctions represented a 34 per cent jump increase on last year, when 94 properties were auctioned.
The Gold Coast Home and Living Expo ran alongside The Event throughout the day.
Hundreds of buyers strolled off the beach and on to the auction floor as a series of bumper events kicked off selling season 2024 on the Gold Coast.
Amir Prestige’s Grand Summer Auction Event was first, recording a clearance rate of 47 per cent as bidding closed on a program of 23 properties.
On the northern Gold Coast, Ray White sold 14 out of 22 properties totalling more than $11.4m, with four still under negotiation.
And on Sunday, a whopping 127 properties were scheduled to go under the hammer at Ray White Surfers Paradise’s largest auction event of the year.
A huge crowd of almost 3000 buyers and spectators packed Royal Pines Resorts with a range of residential and commerical properties offered to the market.
Most properties attracted several bids with auctioneers Andrew Bell and Dave McMahon kept busy during the day.
“There’s no question that we still have this sitation where there are more buyers than sellers,” Mr Bell said.
“There’s nervousness and people concerned about interest rates and all those things but there still is a driven need of people wanting to buy a home.”
One of the more notable sales was a beachfront apartment in Main Beach that sold for $6.35m. It was owned by real estate agent Michael Willems who paid $4.5m for it in January, 2020.
A four-bedroom waterfront home at 2321 Cressbrook Drive, Hope Island attracted 11 bids including an opening bid of $3m before it sold for $4.45m.
At the Amir Prestige event, lots ranged from a beachside unit in the high-demand market of Biggera Waters, to a spectacular architecturally designed mansion at Broadbeach Waters which hosted TV series, The Bachelor.
Both passed in, with the two-bedroom unit on Marine Pde now listed at $650-660,000, while negotiations stretched late into the night with the top bidder for the double-storey luxury home on Monaco St.
Auctioneer Nigel Long called a vendor bid of $19m before the riverfront mansion was passed in.
Top sales included a waterfront entertainer at Helensvale which sold ahead of the event but under auction terms for a suburb-record of $4.5m.
Mr Long jumped back and forth through the program and was forthcoming with vendor bids to bridge the gap between buyer and seller expectations on the day.
Amir Prestige principal Amir Mian said his agents were put through their paces, negotiating contracts until midnight on several properties.