Homes pull in a pretty penny

Buyers’ appetite for prestige properties is insatiable as sales reach new heights

AS the property market settles into a post-Covid cycle, many sellers are having to adjust their price expectations to bring them closer into line with today’s more astute buyer. Among all the shuffling, one sector of the market continues to prove it is an exception to the rule – prestige property.

The top end of the market continues to fire, with mega sales being penned almost every other week, despite house price growth slowing across the region.

This week an acreage estate just over the state border, near Byron Bay, fetched $22m.

Sold through Amir Mian of Amir Prestige Group, it equalled Byron Shire’s existing record sale and has outpriced almost every sale made on the Gold Coast since the same time last year.

Yet as we head towards the end of the financial year, records show that the Gold Coast has not been lacking in top-end contracts over the past 12 months.

The sale of 41 The Promenade on the Isle of Capri was made concrete in December 2021, despite reports it had changed hands a year earlier in December 2020.

It turns out the early reports were of a handshake deal only. Still, the sale was genuine with the buyer eventually signing on the dotted line for a whopping $26.88m.

In total, 11 sales were made for more than $15m, with six of those changing hands in the sought-after beachfront suburb of Mermaid Beach.

A further 16 properties exchanged hands for between $10m and $15m to bring total sales for transactions above $10m-plus at the EOFY to a not too shabby $401.85m.

This figure could skyrocket further if a “substantial” offer made for the mega mansion at 26 Knightsbridge Pde East in Sovereign Islands is accepted by its owner Riccardo Rizzi before Friday. It is unknown how much the offer is for, but selling agent Alex Caraco of Raine and Horne said it could reset the Gold Coast record.

Among the biggest deals made this week was the pre-auction sale of 195-195a Monaco St in Broadbeach Waters, which sold for $7.7m through Michael Kollosche and Jay Helprin of Kollosche.

Mr Helprin said the buyer put in a strong offer to stop the property – one of the largest landholdings left along well-heeled Monaco St – from going under the hammer. He said the buyer had no specific plans for the property at present.

In Sovereign Islands, Edin Kara of Ray White offloaded 44 Britannic Cst for $4.975m at auction.

It is one of four properties he has sold on the Islands in the past three weeks, which he said was a sign of the strength of the prestige market. • For the top 50 sales in QLD 2021-22 visit goldcoastbulletin.com.au/realestate

195-195A Monaco St in Broadbeach Waters was a top sale on the Gold Coast.