BEACHFRONT BOOM
MORE than $40 million worth of beachfront properties has changed hands in the past two months, capped off by a massive $25-million deal in recent weeks.
The stellar run of multimillion-dollar beachfront sales is restoring confidence in the Gold Coast property market, with buyers willing to cough up seven-figure sums for the sought-after lifestyle overlooking the surf and sand.
Tolemy Stevens of Harcourts Coastal said “absolute beachfront” was considered the blue chip real estate of the Gold Coast and the market was the strongest he had experienced since the Global Financial Crisis.
“It’s that beachfront position, mixing with the fact our vendors are quite realistic with their expectations, plus our market is starting to move again,” Mr Stevens said.
“I now have a situation which is very refreshing (with) more genuine cash buyers than beachfront apartments for sale.”
Among his recent beachfront sales was a three-bed-
room apartment in Surfers Paradise’s La Sabbia highrise which sold for $1.58 million.
“A family who lives on the Gold Coast bought it,” Mr Stevens said.
“They’ve got a substantial home and the children are moving out, so they’ve decided it’s time to look after themselves and downsize to the beachfront.”
He said he was now chas-
ing vendors, with buyers lining up in droves.
“Because of this, the prices are rising due to the vendors finally being back in the driver’s seat,” he said.
Ray White Prestige Gold Coast CEO Andrew Bell said beachfront sales spoke more about the recovery of the city’s prestige market as a whole, rather than the beachside specifically.
“Beachside properties are traditionally more expensive than inland homes and as a result of recovery in the prestige market, we are now seeing more prestige beachside properties being transacted,” Mr Bell said.
“A sometimes forgotten factor about the beachside market is that our population grows year on year but absolute beachfront space is finite – so with the passing of each year demand will grow but supply will stay the same.”
Tidemark, dubbed Australia’s best beachhouses, settled this month for $25 million to Melbourne-based billionaire toy manufacturer, Manny Stul.
Prestige agent Michael Kollosche, of Kollosche Prestige Agents, negotiated the sale of the contemporary resort-style estate on Albatross Ave, Mermaid Beach.
The trophy purchase was not a record residential sale for the Gold Coast though.
In 2008, BreakFree founder Tony Smith sold an uncompleted mansion in Hedges Ave to later-failed internet whiz Daniel Tzvetkoff for $27 million.