Once-in-a-generation Hawthorne home sells to renovators for $2.8 million

A once-in-a-generation Hawthorne home in need of a multimillion-dollar renovation fetched $2.78 million under the hammer on Saturday after a local family outmuscled six other bidders, including developers.

The rare mid-century home at 178 Barton Road, which had remained in the same family for 83 years, was the top auction result across the capital.

The buyers plan to spend the next few years renovating the old home, which sits on an 817 square metre block within 100 metres of the Brisbane River.

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178 Barton Road, Hawthorne QLD 4171

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Selling agent Tony O’Doherty of Belle Property said the property was a rarity in one of Brisbane’s most sought-after pockets.

“Homes like this come up maybe once a year,” he said.

“But it’s still a lot of money to pay for a renovator. It probably needs a couple of million dollars’ worth of work.”

In front of a crowd of spectators, bidding kicked off at $2.2 million and quickly rose to its $2.65 million reserve and was called on the market. A bidding battle ensued between the two families until the winning bid was thrown down.

The home was one of 135 auctions listed across Brisbane on Saturday. Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 33 per cent from 69 reported results, while 12 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

Despite Brisbane’s soft clearance rate on Saturday, Ray White chief economist Nerida Conisbee said the city’s auction market was firing on all cylinders.

“We’re seeing an average of 3.6 active bidders per property – that’s up both from last month and year-on-year,” she said.

“In fact, this is the strongest October we’ve had in three years.

“For Ray White, our clearance rate is at 66 per cent, slightly up on last year’s 62.4 per cent. It’s absolutely a sellers’ market. Prices are still moving quickly … apartments are particularly performing well and they’re almost at Melbourne and Sydney prices.”

Conisbee expected the market to stay strong, even with listing numbers up 20 per cent year-on-year.

Over at Aspley, a four-bedroom home fetched $2.26 million under the hammer – bang on the reserve – after a developer outbid four other punters for the prime slice of subdividable land.

Set on a sprawling 2041 square metre block, 22 Craigan Crescent attracted 10 registered bidders, including neighbours, owner-occupiers, developers and investors.

Lead agent Avi Khan of Ray White said they had 19 offers before the auction, fuelled by the block’s ability to be subdivided into four lots in one of Aspley’s top pockets.

“Blocks of this calibre don’t hit the market often … and anything with subdivision potential or granny flat space goes off in this market,” he said.

“The owners held the property for over 51 years … so it was very emotional for them to let go. But they were surprised at the level of attention it got.

“We even had real estate agents on the floor looking to see what result we got. And that’s quite unusual.”

Bidding for the home kicked off at a low $1 million, followed by a couple of fast $500,000 increments before a flurry of smaller bids were thrown down. The developer offered a final $6000 sum to get the keys.

Khan said the market still boasted top opportunities for both buyers and sellers, but noted a rapid rise in investor activity.

Over at 3 Halland Terrace, Camp Hill, a young family popped a bottle of bubbly and celebrated with their new neighbours after landing the winning bid on a charming four-bedroom, three-bathroom Queenslander.

After a heated battle, the pair paid $1.72 million – well over the reserve – which selling agent Paula Pearce of Place Estate Agents said was in the $1.6 million range.

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3 Halland Terrace, Camp Hill QLD 4152

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Bidding kicked off at $1.45 million and rose in $50,000 increments before slowing down at the $1.6 million mark. It was then that the young couple, who had fallen head over heels with the home, muscled out the remaining buyers.

“It’s on a corner block in a beautiful location and the buyers actually came by it Thursday night and saw the bright orange sunset from the deck … I could see them visualising their family living there,” Pearce said.

“They had been looking for a long time and they had to get their property sold and they had missed out a few times on others, so they weren’t going to miss out again.”

She said the icing on the cake was having the new neighbours celebrate the emotional win over a post-auction drink.

In Paradise Waters, one of the elite Gold Coast suburb’s last remaining “knock down” homes sold for $4.3 million under the hammer to an undisclosed local buyer.

The old four-bedroom home, perched on a prime 733 square metre block at 82 Admiralty Drive, sits next to some of the Gold Coast’s most prestigious properties – including number 60, which sold for $13.6 million in 2002.

“It’s one of the last of its kind. There are maybe three [original homes] left like this here,” said selling agent Robbie Graham of Ray White Prestige.

“We had five registered bidders who were all local and none of them were developers. They all wanted to knock it down and build something,” he said.

“In the end a young family with young kids got it. It was an awesome auction and an awesome result.”

The vendors bought the home back in 2012 for $2.3 million. Graham was unable to disclose the reserve.