Bidder dials in from Antarctica for sunshine state home

Word has spread that Aussie property is hot.

A bidder listened in to an auction down a satellite phone from chilly Antarctica, in the hunt for a Queensland home that sold under the hammer on June 15.

The Upper Brookfield estate with a vast pool, five-bedroom layout and hillside position, sold for $2.44 million.

SOLD - $2,440,000

84 Haven Road, Upper Brookfield QLD 4069

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It was among $30 million worth of real estate that transacted in an auction bonanza in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley on the weekend.

Ray White Collective principals Matt Lancashire and Haesley Cush were in charge of the large-scale, in-room bidding event, which attracted 60 registered bidders.

The glamorous Calile Hotel hosted the back-to-back auctions, where the highest sale clocked in at $4.33 million for a five-bedroom Clayfield address with a glistening atrium entry and an enormous outdoor entertaining space and pool.

SOLD - $4,330,000

62 Liverpool Road, Clayfield QLD 4011

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The man on the phone is a scientist in Antarctica, the agency said in a statement, whose wife was at the hotel to bid on the Upper Brookfield address.

“It was comparable to those pandemic auctions where everything sold, but you weren’t in the room with everyone in those days, so it had the best feeling for as long as I can remember,” Lancashire said in a statement.

“The real estate market in Brisbane is being underpinned by a stock crisis and the interstate migration rates are at an all-time high. We are the start of our golden decade. You want to buy in 2024 not 2032.”

This golden era is defined by record-high property prices in Brisbane.

The city’s house median has ripped past $900,000, with expectations it will hit $1 million by the end of the year.

Of the homes that went under the gavel at the Calile, 19 of 24 sold, the agency said.