Community spirit sells prestige precincts in Brisbane auctions

The whole street came out to watch an old two-bedroom cottage in Yeronga go under the hammer on Saturday.

And as it turned out the neighbourhood’s community spirit helped to sell 6 Orvieto Street.

The former owner of the cottage recently passed away, after having lived on the 534-square-metre property since the house was built shortly after World War II.

The street was lined with tight-knit neighbours watching the auction, many of whom greeted McGrath Yeronga‘s Sharon Wilson by name.

“There’s a high demand and a low supply. People who move into the area don’t want to leave. In that respect, we starve as agents sometimes,” she said, laughing.

“It’s considered quite lovely to be in this spot so people are prepared to pay extra high prices to get into the door here.”

Ms Wilson said the house needed a bit of work. “The house is in a bit of a state and has seen better days and the buyers are looking at it and …think they can [knock it down and] put their own home here.”

The auction for the old home started with a bid of $710,000, and climbed in $5000 increments for most of the auction between just two bidders.

Once it was declared on the market at $760,000, it sold two bids later for $765,000 to Daisy Hill man, Yogesh, who did not want his last name published.

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“We started looking at a few places like Greenslopes and Coorparoo and we were quite attracted to the river and the lifestyle this place offered,” he said.

He said both he and his wife had fallen in love with the area for its community feel.

“We’ve spent a good month around the area. It all started out with one of my neighbours who moved into Fairfield and they invited us over and that exposed us to this area. It was unknown to us really. I’m happy with the buy today.”

Good prospects for growth also sold Yogesh. “I think Brisbane’s going to be very much like Melbourne and Sydney and places close to the city will go up.”

The home will be rented out for a few years while Yogesh and his wife sort out the design for their new home on the block, which will likely end up a modernist-style home.

Later in Windsor, a renovated Queenslander a couple of streets away from a main road inspired some competitive bidding.

“It always starts out a bit slow but there were two parties that wanted it and that’s what an auction does, it gives you a premium price,” Dixon Family agent and auctioneer Jack Dixon said.

Bidding for 74 Swan Terrace started at $1.28 million but quickly climbed, passing the vendor’s reserve with little trouble.

It eventually sold for $1.43 million after nearly 30 bids.

“The sellers will be ecstatic, they’ve bought elsewhere, ready to downsize,” Mr Dixon said.

He said buyers competed strongly for the home  because it was in good condition, despite not being renovated in almost two decades.

“It’s got very good street appeal and it’s [a] modern home at the same time,” Mr Dixon said.