Mum-and-dad investors flock to auction in Brisbane’s north

It was another slow week on the Brisbane auction market, with only 78 scheduled auctions and a reported clearance rate of 25 per cent.

Despite this, a post-war house on 810 square metres was sold in an explosive auction in Alderley in Brisbane’s North.

About 60 people watched in the property’s front yard as nine registered bidders battled it out for around 20 minutes.

The opening bid came in at $915,000, which agent Janine MacDonald, of Ray White Alderley said was higher than any of the bidders had been talking about before the auction.

“One bidder opened it, and blew six of them out of the water. It then went between that bidder and another bidder up to $935,000,” she said.

A negotiation with the highest bidder brought the price to $1 million, at which point the two-bedroom, one-bathroom home was put on the market.

“That blew another bidder out of the water,” MacDonald said. “But then the third bidder came in for the first time after that.”

After a few more bids back and forth, the property sold for $1,015,000.

MacDonald said most of the interest in it had been from mum-and-dad investors.

“We had quite a few experienced ones there. The main options with the property were to hold it and continue to rent it,” she said.

“Everybody was looking at it as an investment opportunity. I didn’t get anyone there who was looking to build their own house who showed serious interest.

“I think the reason it was so popular was because it’s a splitter, six kilometres from the CBD, and they’re just becoming more and more scarce.”

The owners, a family that had used the property as a long-term investment, were very happy with the result.

“The auctioneer said it was his auction of the day,” MacDonald said.

On the other side of the city, a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house set on 562 square metres and surrounded by lush gardens, was sold under the hammer in Wishart.

Four registered bidders were in attendance, with only one of them having viewed the property during the campaign.

Bidding opened at $650,000, and very quickly moved to $710,000. At that point, two of the bidders backed down, leaving the last two to go head to head.

Around 50 people watched as the bidding continued for about 20 minutes until the house was sold for $743,000.

Agent Kosma Comino, of LJ Hooker Sunnybank Hills, said the property was shown a lot of interest in its three-week campaign.

“Even though it was an older-style home, and it was dated, it was very well looked after and maintained,” he said.

“The main reason buyers were going there is because it is walking distance to Mansfield State High School and Wishart Primary School, which are the two premium schools in the area.

“Most of the ones I’ve sold to young families, they’re either having a baby or they’ve got kids that are two or three years old, and they’re thinking 10 years ahead.

“That’s how early on buyers are looking to get into the pocket.”

The buyers themselves fit this category exactly, and were thrilled to secure the property.

“They had actually been at one of my auctions before,” Comino said.

“They said to me ‘we don’t want to have to go through this again and go to a third auction’. They were very, very happy.”

The vendors, who were selling to downsize and have plans to travel, were also happy with the result.

“Because the market has been so strong with young families looking to buy, a lot of owners are overpricing their properties and they’re sitting,” Mr Comino said.

“These guys didn’t want to sit, because they had bought [another property] and [it] was unconditional so they needed [this one] gone.

“They were really happy to get it done under auction conditions.”