Hedges Ave loses top spot

MOVE over, Hedges Ave – there’s a new beachfront housing hot spot on the Gold Coast.

Mermaid Beach’s Albatross Ave has overtaken the wellknown Millionaire’s Row in beachfront property sales.

It accounted for 50 per cent of all beachfront transactions, according to the Central Gold Coast Prestige Report 2014-15, to be released by McGrath Broadbeach agents James Ledgerwood and John Natoli next week.

That is a stark comparison to the 2013-14 report, when Hedges Ave featured prominently and had four of the topfive beachfront sales.

Mr Ledgerwood said the larger property sizes in Albatross Ave and the emergence of the Nobby Beach dining precinct were big drawcards.

“When Broadbeach was at its peak, the northern end of Hedges Ave attracted a lot of people as it was in walking distance,” Mr Ledgerwood said.

“With Nobby Beach taking off as a leading dining precinct on the Coast, Albatross has become attractive for that reason.”

He said he expected the beachfront property market to continue to bounce back as summer approached.

The average cost of a beachfront home increased by 10.5 per cent, while “beach shacks” and “knock-down” properties on 405sq m blocks increased by 16.7 per cent, to $3.56 million.

REIQ Gold Coast zone chairman John Newlands said the results showed buyers had more confidence in the beachfront market.

“It’s generally increased a lot on the Gold Coast over the past 18 months to two years,” Mr Newlands said.