Games spur to buy-up

Real estate agents are reporting strong interest in the property market with an influx of holidaymakers in the city

TOURISTS and holiday-makers are heating up the Gold Coast property market, with one agent recording more than $4 million worth of apartment sales already this year.

Tolemy Stevens of Harcourts Coastal reported three beachfront sales in the past week along with another beachfront residence under contract.

“You go for a drive from Main Beach to Broadbeach and there are holiday-makers everywhere and a buzz in the air,” Mr Stevens said. “There’s a lot of people wanting to purchase property.”

He said he had more buyers than sellers and was desperately looking for more beachfront stock.

“With the build-up to the Commonwealth Games and tourism on the Coast being at an alltime high, there’s a lot of interstate buyers and buyers who are purchasing or reinvesting in their own back yard,” he said.

In other news, a ticket bought as a Christmas present has landed retired grandparents an entire Palm Beach apartment complex worth $4.1 million. Ray and Jenny (surname withheld) were the lucky winners of the RSL Art Union’s biggest-ever prize home draw, scooping five homes in one, including a two-storey penthouse with panoramic ocean views.

The newly built complex at Bluebird’s Rest on the corner of Jefferson Lane and Third Ave, Palm Beach featured a 10-car garage, saltwater pool, barbecue area and $304,000 worth of furniture. The other four apartments are twobedroom, two-bathroom units.

Renting the five-apartment prize would earn the couple $200,000 plus per year, the RSL’s highest-ever estimated total rental income, but they are planning to make the penthouse their own.

“We’ll sell our home and move to the Coast,” said Ray.

The latest RSL Art Union raffle at Jefferson Lane, Palm Beach, was a $4.1 million bonus for a lucky retired couple.