'We're gonna keep it': Locals beat developers to save retro house from wrecking ball

After an explosive weekend at auction last week, the Brisbane market tightened somewhat this week with 75 scheduled auctions and a reported clearance rate of 36 per cent.

Despite this, a gorgeous retro house with an indoor squash court and sauna on more than a hectare was sold under the hammer at Everton Park in Brisbane’s north.

After a successful campaign that saw more than 300 parties inspect the property, about 140 people watched 10 registered bidders battle it out.

Bidding opened at $1 million and jumped in lots of $50,000 until it hit $1.3 million. Bidding slowed until the property was called on the market at $1,625,000, and two bidders fought it out until it was sold for $1,672,500.

Agent Matthew Jabs, of Place Newmarket, said he was happy to see the property sell at auction.

“The reason we flicked it to an auction was that we were getting developers that wanted long-winded terms. They wanted big conditional periods,” he said.

“It was also very hard to establish the value, because there was no comparable sale like it in the area of that land size and house size. The house was really unique.”

The previous owner was a major toy and sports goods importer, who built the house from scratch in the 1970s, and lived in it until he died recently.

Jabs said the buyers, the owners of a local motorcycle business, were thrilled with the result.

“It was really good to see them buy it because they had been through the open house six times. They loved this house,” he said.

“When he won the auction, he gave a big fist pump. [He] met the owners afterwards and said ‘the house is in safe hands, we’re gonna keep it, [we] love it’.”

In Clayfield, a post-war home at Union Street marketed by Shenal Yigitbas and Dwight Ferguson of Ray White Ascot was the centre of a fierce and swift bidding war.

About 100 people piled in to watch 14 registered bidders battle it out for the three-bedroom, one-bathroom house on 732 square metres of land, in an auction that lasted less than 10 minutes.

Bidding opened at $800,000, then quickly jumped to $850,000 and then to $1 million. The price then went up in lots of $50,000 before being put on the market at $1.2 million.  

After a few more bids, the property was sold for $1.25 million.

Agent Dwight Ferguson, of Ray White Ascot, said there had been great interest in the property during the campaign, with about 80 parties inspecting.

“From developers that were going to build spec homes, to families that would do the existing home up and live in it for a while, to people who would knock it down and build their family home,” he said.

“The benefit of the property is that you could get the house off without any issues because it was post-war.

“Around the corner, [there was] a home on the same size block, same set of circumstances. The buyer of that property took the house off and built a brand new home on it. It sold last week in the mid-$2 millions.”

Nearby in Hendra, a beautiful character Queenslander on 607 square metres sold  for $1.475 million.

About 60 people watched as four registered bidders tried to secure the gorgeous home. The opening bid was $1 million, after which it jumped to $1.1 million and then to $1.2 million.  

At that point the property was taken off the floor to negotiate with the highest bidder. After 45 minutes of negotiation, the price rose $275,000 to the final selling price of $1.475 million.

Agent Chrese Morley, of Harcourts Clayfield, said most interest in the house was from families with young children.

“The demographic of Hendra is 75 per cent owner occupier, so the families really gravitate towards it,” she said. “It’s obviously close to the airport [and] it’s in the shadow of Ascot, so it’s just a prime suburb. The flow of the house worked beautifully for families with young kids.”

Morley said this outcome was proof of the importance of the auction process.  

“We had a lot of conditional interest post-auction. We had numerous pre-auction offers, but a number were conditional to finance,” she said. “So, we fought hard on the day to get that cash unconditional contract, and we got it.

“At the moment there are still a good number of buyers in the local marketplace. I think many buyers are beginning to look around, and shop around, feeling that time is a bit more on their side.

“They’ve got a bit more of an opportunity to explore the market and not be in competition.

“That’s why the auction process is so important at the moment, because it is making buyers make a decision within a period of time.”