Sales tick over as rates rise

High-end transactions continue on the Coast

THE run of record-low interest rates has finally been broken. In what the RBA deemed a necessary move to counter the spiralling rate of inflation it raised the base rate on Tuesday by 0.25 percentage points.

The effect that the rise will have on homeowners’ hip pockets is easily measured but the impact for the wider property market will take a little longer to transpire particularly if you consider that a large proportion of the sales on the Gold Coast over the past 18 months have been cash unconditional to interstate buyers, void of finance.

This scenario played out again this week with the sale of a Hope Island mansion.

A Sydney buyer stumped up $5.25m under the hammer for the property at 1660 Riverdale Dr after five bidders made for an animated auction. The price paid exceeded reserve by $200,000.

Marketed by William Sarti and Marco de Vincentiis of Kollosche, it was the first time the property had been on the market.

Mr Sarti said the owners, who reside overseas, built the house in 2000 as their forever home, but with work commitments keeping them from returning to Australia, they decided to sell.

“Rather than see the house fall into disrepair they preferred to see someone else enjoy it as they had one day hoped,” Mr Sarti said. He said the house was iconic among homeowners in Hope Island for its rare double waterfront block, rock pool and tennis court. It also has a separate twostorey guest house.

Mr Sarti said the buyer saw the value in the home and was happy to do whatever it took to secure it.

Meanwhile, a deal has been struck for the penthouse of Domino’s pizza supremo Don Meij. The apartment, marketed through Harry Kakavas and Michael Kollosche of Kollosche sold for $7.8m, shy of the $7.95m Mr Meij was originally asking for, but still a $2.4m uplift on what he paid for it in June 2020.

Topping the Sea building at 3531-3533 Main Beach Parade, Main Beach, the upscale New York-style pad was decked out by Mr Meij’s wife and, according to Mr Kakavas, was barely used by the couple, leaving it in near new condition. It went to a buyer from Brisbane.

Elsewhere, Luke Henderson of the Professionals, offloaded a two-bedroom apartment on the beachfront at Mermaid Beach for $1.2m, and Mitchell Booth of Amir Prestige Group, sold a home just back from the waterfront at 37 Broadwater Street, Runaway Bay, for $1.03m.

1660 Riverdale Dr in Hope Island is one of the most well-known in the resort.