'The strangest auction I’ve ever had': Next door neighbour steps in to save auction

Despite another slow week in the Brisbane auction market, two sales bucked the trend for completely different reasons.

When agent Tom Lyne, of Ray White New Farm, turned up to the auction of 169 Gladstone Street, Highgate Hill, to find two onlookers and no registered bidders, he wasn’t feeling hopeful.

“In terms of auction turnout, it’s probably the worst I’ve ever had,” he said. “We were pretty non-optimistic something was going to happen.

“We had no registered bidders, and we had two people who had conditional interest outside auction.”

But just when things were looking grim, something amazing happened that led to the sale of the six-bedroom, three-bathroom home.

“Mid-auction, we had the neighbour stick their head out of the window, register, place a bid, negotiate up, and buy it,” Lyne said. “It’s probably the strangest auction I’ve ever had in my career.”

Even more bizarre was that the buyers were the vendor’s children, who had grown up in the property and then moved in next door. They were very happy with the result.

The second auction had six registered bidders battle it for about 35 minutes to secure a five-bedroom, three-bathroom family home on 716 square metres in Red Hill in Brisbane’s inner north-west. Of those six bidders, four were actively participating, and one was phoning in from another country.

About 30 people watched as the bidding opened at $1.3 million, then jumped quickly in lots of $50,000. There was a brief pause when the price hit $1,588,000 during which the agents sought instructions from the vendor.

Bidding then restarted and jumped up to $1.6 million. After another pause, and a brief chat with the bidders, the price rose again a few more times and then the property was ultimately sold for $1,625,000.

The competition came down to two families. The under-bidder was a young family that had just moved from Melbourne.

Meanwhile, the buyers themselves were a family of four currently living at Aspley, who were moving to be closer to the inner-city high schools. 

Agent Judi O’Dea, of Ray White Paddington, said the buyers were ecstatic with the result.

“The house was beautifully built, and that was what attracted so many qualified buyers,” she said.

The vendors had lived in the house for many years, and had decided to move after changes in circumstance.

O’Dea said the result bucked some of the more worrying trends being seen in Brisbane.

“Everybody’s quoting that the auctions aren’t working, and terrible clearance rates. People aren’t putting their properties on the market, so there’s no stock around.

“This auction went against the trend. It’s a really strong price for Red Hill. There are active and qualified buyers around looking for good property.”

A total of 54 properties went to auction this weekend, with a reported clearance rate of 36 per cent.