IT’S been a strong start to spring for Brisbane’s prestige market, with one of the city’s most in-demand riverfront homes selling under the hammer for $4.6 million — chalking up the biggest sale in Queensland in the past week.
The luxury house at 77 Macquarie Street, Teneriffe, was snapped up at auction by a local family in another sign the city’s top end is on fire despite an overall cooling in the housing sector.
Set on the riverfront with spectacular views, the property is one of just 23 homes in the northeast facing Catalina development, and features four bedrooms, three bathrooms and 488 sqm of opulent living space spread over three levels.
Regarded as “the” blue chip riverfront investment when it was developed 12 years ago, the Catalina homes are tightly held and hotly contested whenever they go up for sale.
The home at 77 Macquarie St was marketed by Matt Lancashire and Brandon Wortley of Ray White New Farm.
Mr Wortley said the property attracted four registered bidders at its auction on Saturday in front of a crowd of about 80 people.
The opening bid was $4 million and quickly rose to $4.55 million before it went on the market at $4.6 million and sold to the winning bidder — a local family looking for a change from their current riverfront home.
“Bidding was pretty quick, which is a really good sign — once it kicked off it was quite frenetic,” Mr Wortley said.
He admitted it was rare for top end homes in that price range to sell at auction in Brisbane.
“As you go up the chain in price, it does become harder, but that part of the market has just had such a good run in the past 12 to 18 months,” he said.
“Those people showing serious interest in the property weren’t people who are looking on the internet every weekend; they’re happy to wait in the shadows and then jump when something like this comes up.”
Macquarie Street is regarded as one of the premier streets for real estate in Brisbane, with Ray White New Farm selling about $30 million worth of property in this street alone in the past few years.
Mr Wortley said an entry level house on Macquarie Street cost “well in excess of $4 million”.
Recent sales include 37 Macquarie Street, which sold for $5.1 million in February this year through Hamish Bowman and Matt Lancashire, and 53 Macquarie Street, which sold for $5.236 million in March through Christine Rudolph.
These are the colours you’ll be using in 2018
Experts: No rate rise until late 2018
Domestic violence victims facing homelessness for fleeing abusers
On Teneriffe Hill, 48 Teneriffe Drive sold for more than $4 million, an architectural home at 78a Chester Street sold for $3.25 million through Belle Property New Farm.
And artist Wendy Moore and her architect husband Jonathan Williams fetched $2.85 million for their renovated home at 95 Little Chester Street.
Records show 77 Macquarie St last sold for $3.785 million in December, 2014.
It was owned by the real estate developer Jon Haseler, who owns leading horse stud Glenlogan and is the managing director of QM Properties.
The house is on a 365sq m block and features multiple living areas, including a television room, a library, games room and an outdoor entertainment area.
The home is about 2km from the Brisbane CBD and is accessed through a private security gate.
It has hardwood flooring, fully-ducted, zoned airconditioning throughout and an alarm and intercom system.
There is an internal store room and wine storage.
The sale of 77 Macquarie St was the biggest transaction in Queensland this week, according to property data firm CoreLogic.
Another big sale this week was a contemporary four-bedroom, four-bathroom house at 179 Ninth Avenue, St Lucia.
It fetched $2.2 million at auction.
And a five-bedroom, three-bathroom house on 817 sqm at 17 Henderson Street, Bulimba, also sold for $2.2 million through Place – Bulimba.
Despite the strong results at the high end of the market, auction volumes were down in Brisbane for the first weekend of spring, with 136 auctions held.
The preliminary clearance rate increased to 47.1 per cent from 43.9 per cent last week.
On the Gold Coast, only 28 per cent of the 25 reported auctions were successful.
Originally Published: http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au