Buyers lament fewer listings in big weekend of South East Queensland auctions

More than a dozen downsizers competed to buy a luxury penthouse in Brisbane’s south-west at the weekend.

The three-bedroom apartment which took up the entire top floor of the Waterford complex at 7/88 Macquarie Street, St Lucia, drew 13 registered bidders, who fought it out for the keys.

SOLD - $2,200,000

7/88 Macquarie Street, St Lucia QLD 4067

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It sold under the hammer for $2.2 million to a local buyer looking for a smaller home close to Brisbane River and was one of the biggest results from the weekend’s auctions.

Ray White Ascot’s Nick Kouparitsis said while most of the bidders were locals, two were from outside Queensland. 

An expat bidder from Singapore was willing to buy the property, which has views of the river and Brisbane CBD, sight unseen. A bidder from Tasmania also tried their luck, Mr Kouparitsis said.

The apartment, one of seven in the building, was extremely popular with retirees looking for a waterfront lifestyle.

“We had more than 90 groups through in the four weeks it was on the market,” he said.

The auction was one of 67 scheduled for Saturday. Brisbane’s preliminary auction clearance rate sat at 51 per cent after 35 reported results on Saturday evening. There were just two properties withdrawn from auction.

Although the coronavirus pandemic has made it difficult for interstate and international buyers to get into the Queensland property market, local buyers have been very keen to get into the market.

“The market has been very strong,”  Ray White Bulimba’s Trevor Egan said. “It’s a property bubble with a sugar hit.”

“It’s definitely hot right now with so many buyers, but at the end of March when JobKeeper and JobSeeker ends, it’s definitely going to be [looking into] the crystal ball,” he said.

Auction

25 MacDonald Street, Norman Park QLD 4170

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He helped sell a three-bedroom Queenslander in Brisbane’s eastern suburbs at the weekend for a vendor who owned it as an investment property.

The home at 25 MacDonald Street, Norman Park, had three registered bidders compete. It sold for $1.1 million under the hammer to a local family. 

In the city’s north, 38 buyers registered to bid for a 607-square-metre block of land at 20 Sturt Street, Kedron. 

The land, which had no house sold for $1,155,000 after 10 of the bidders actively competed for the property.  

Ray White Lutwyche David Lazzarini said the winning bidder was from a local family.

The land had been vacant since 2001 and was owned by the same family since the late 1920s, he said.

“You won’t find another vacant block like this so close to the city,” Mr Lazzarini said. 

A professional couple snapped up a three-bedroom Queenslander that had undergone a complete renovation, at 34 Deviney Street, Morningside.

SOLD - $900,000

34 Deviney Street, Morningside QLD 4170

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Place Estate Agents Bulimba’s Glenn Bool said two registered bidders competed at auction, with the house selling for $900,000.

The vendors, also a professional couple, will now be moving to a new home in Camp Hill, Mr Bool said.

Many young buyers were struggling to find a property to call home in South East Queensland with the shortage of homes listed for sale, he said.

“By and large there’s been an overwhelming shortage of stock,” Mr Bool said. “I deal with mostly first-home and second-home owners from $600,000 to $1 million and there is such little stock they keep telling us ‘we’ve gone to a few auctions and missed out’.”