$1 MILLION OVER RESERVE
BIDDING BATTLE IN JAN JUC’S GOLDEN TRIANGLE:
THE Surf Coast holiday house of late Victorian Liberal MP Bruce Reid sold for $1m over its auction reserve price at the weekend.
Local buyers secured the four-bedroom Jan Juc residence for $3m at the auction contested by seven bidders.
McCartney Torquay agent Tim Carson said 150 people witnessed Saturday’s auction at 17 Carnoustie Avenue, which wrapped up the campaign to sell the two-storey residence overlooking the Surf Coast Walk near the Little Bird Rock Lookout.
Mr Carson said about 100 people inspected the home during the campaign.
The property had been listed with a $1.95m to $2.1m price guide, with the opening bid hitting the $2m reserve price, he said.
“It’s in the golden triangle of Jan Juc,” he said.
“It’s extremely hard to find properties of this calibre in this location.
“It backed onto the walking track, it was just a terrific location.”
Mr Reid, who died in May 2020, was elected to the Victorian upper house seat of Bendigo Province in 1976.
In 1990, he was elected to the federal seat of Bendigo before retiring in 1998.
Mr Carson said local buyers intended to use the home as a permanent residence.
The price is not a new phenomenon for Jan Juc, with two luxury modern homes in Camrose Court selling for more than $3.7m last spring.
“It wasn’t all the mod-con finishes, the floorplan didn’t suit everybody just because of the way it was configured as a holiday home,” Mr Carson said
“And whoever was buying it was probably going to change it a bit. But it was all about the location.”
He said the house was set back from the street, creating a sheltered north-facing yard.
Jan Juc house prices have climbed 12.6 per cent in 12 months to $980,000, Hometrack data shows.
But Mr Carson said it was the increased number of interested buyers, rather than a lack of stock, that was driving prices. “I don’t believe we’re finding there is a lack of stock — instead of having two or three interested buyers, you’ve got seven or eight,” he said.
“Anything from $750,000 to $1m, normally for the first week of opens you might get 10 groups, but we’re getting 30 and 40 through.
“And you might have one or two buyers, where now we’ve got four or five.”