Hedges at a standstill
Cashed-up buyers forced to wait to snare their slice of paradise in millionaires row
GOLD Coast’s beachfront housing market “has never been tighter”, with off-market buying the only option for buyers who have their hearts set on some of the city’s most exclusive streets.
There are no homes advertised for sale on exclusive Hedges Ave, despite a flurry of interest from deep-pocketed buyers who have sent price records tumbling.
New faces on Hedges include construction industry veteran Mick Power and wife Denise, who plan a move to Mermaid Beach’s “millionaires row” after spending a record-breaking
$15.5m on land.
The couple bought 97 Hedges Ave from Bridget Deer, wife of Ignite Travel founder Randall Deer.
That record only stood a few days, with Nava Abedian, wife of Sunland Group’s Sahba Abedian, landing a $17.5m sale for her vacant 900sq m corner lot to Andrew Fahey, one of the founders of listed online bookmaker PointsBet.
Mr Fahey and partner Katrina Luland recently moved to the Palm Beach beachfront from Melbourne.
Long-time Hedges owners Kevin and Nora Joyce sold No.131 in June, settling for $6.6m from supplements businessman Michael Brosnan.
Those top-end sales make last month’s $2.75m sale of a duplex on 405sq m across the road look like a bargain.
The two three-bedroom units at No.86 sold to Bell Co, a company directed by Brisbane property players Kate and Richard Bell. The Bells also own the mansion at No.177, which they picked up for $5.75m in 2006.
Kollosche agent Troy Dowker said the Gold Coast beachfront market “has never been tighter”.
“It reinforces how hard it is to actually acquire something,” he said. “Searching a property off-market, you’re looking at paying a price that’s in line with the seller’s expectations – but you are going to have to benefit of having first bite of the cherry.”
For those keen to nab themselves a nibble of Gold
Coast’s most exclusive street, there are some relatively cheaper options available – if you’re willing to share a roof and forgo a backyard.
While no Hedges Ave houses are advertised for sale, apartments currently listed include:
5/143 and 7/143: Each of these two-bedroom, onebathroom apartments, in a beachfront complex of eight, have no price listed. Unit 7 sold for $1.08m in 2007.
302/272: This two-bedroom, two-bathroom, 155sq m apartment in Sunland’s underconstruction tower is under offer at an undisclosed price.
2702/272: The fourbedroom, four-bathroom, two-floor, 513sq m “sky villa” in the Sunland tower doesn’t qualify as a cheap option – it will set its buyer back $8.5m