Suburb’s price gap widens
MERMAID Beach has cemented its status as the Coast’s richest real estate market, with house prices soaring to a new median of $2.727m.
The home of “Multi-millionaire’s Row” notched up the Gold Coast’s strongest annual growth of 44.5 per cent, CoreLogic’s first quarter home value index shows.
Big-ticket beachfront sales since March 2021 have created a wider-than-ever price gap between Mermaid Beach and other luxury property markets.
Broadbeach Waters had the Coast’s next highest annual growth, up 36.1 per cent to a median of $1.943m. Bundall was close behind, with 38 per cent growth to $1.921m.
Mermaid Beach homeowners Jeremy Day and Skye Forbes were renting on Hedges Ave and dreamt of owning a property in the ritzy locale.
They jumped at the opportunity to purchase a duplex within their budget in 2017.
“We’d been renting a shack across the road from the beach for $285 a week,” IT professional Mr Day said. “At the time it was just houses – duplexes were not really a thing so we hadn’t considered being able to live in Mermaid Beach due to the prices.”
The couple was due to leave for an extended stay overseas when they found the architecturally designed, three-bedroom villa at 1/41 Arthur St.
“We opened the door and saw that beautiful, bright sun shining in through the courtyard and just thought, ‘this is it’,” Ms Forbes said. “We presented them with an unconditional offer that they had to accept by Monday because we were leaving for Japan.”
With Mr Day’s family since relocating from Canada, they have bought a larger home in Burleigh Heads and will take the duplex to auction.
It is marketed by Luke Henderson, of Professionals Mermaid Beach, and goes under the hammer on April 24.
Set over two levels, the contemporary home makes clever use of indoor and outdoor areas to maximise living space.
It has an open-plan kitchen, dining and lounge area that flows to a terrace and northfacing patio with grassed yard.
The bedrooms are upstairs, including two with balconies and a large master bedroom with ensuite. There’s also a lockup garage. Property records show it last changed hands for $1.088m.
Mr Henderson said cashedup local buyers continued to drive demand for high-end property.