All the right numbers fuel runaway Kelvin Grove sale and Brisbane record auction prices

Fortuitous feng shui resulted in the blistering $1.09 million sale of a rundown house in Kelvin Grove in Brisbane’s inner east on Saturday.

The buyers, a Chinese-Australian family from Sunnybank in the city’s southern middle ring, fought off a determined developer for the three-bedroom Queenslander on its 888-square-metre double block.

Located at number 17 on a quiet cul-de-sac, less than three kilometres from the CBD, the humble weatherboard attracted five registered bidders before auction.

Despite this, the end result was still “completely unexpected”, agent Tamara Lee admitted, given some pre-auction concerns its $1 million reserve was unrealistic.

“I was absolutely delighted as I had concerns we wouldn’t reach reserve given the highest comparable was a superior house on 607 square metres in Crescent Road, which sold earlier this year for $980,000,” the agent said.

“We were confident three [pre-registered bidders] would turn up and the other two were maybes but, in the end, all ended up bidding and from $950,000 it was down to two very strong bidders.”

The successful buyer and the developer bid ferociously for the property motivated by its valuable location inside both Kelvin Grove Primary School and Brisbane State High school zones, and its generous land size.

“It did not pause at any point from the opening bid,” the agent said.

“The third under-bidder was knocked out at $950,000 and then we had these two buyers bid by increments of $5000, $2000, even $1000, for a whole $140,000 to get to the sale price.

“But the buyers, a young family with a two-year-old and a four-year-old, were more highly motivated to buy this property than the developer.

“Number 17 becomes an eight when you add [the] one and seven together and eight is a very significant number in feng shui.

“Then there was the block size with its three eights, located in a cul-de-sac, also very desirable in the buyers’ eyes, and the location near top schools so they were very emotionally attached to this property, it had all the right signs and they could see themselves in this home for a long time as their family grows.”

Queensland’s capital city clinched auction sales worth $14,661,500 over the weekend, based on 79 auctions and a 45 per cent auction clearance rate.

The biggest sale result, by a whopping margin of $767,500, was a four-bedroom house in New Farm sold to a local homeowner for $2.525 million.

Agent Vaughan Keenan of Grace and Keenan reported three pre-registered bidders vied for the tri-level house on 546 square metres, two kilometres east of the CBD.

Bidding opened at $2.35 million in front of a crowd of about 70 people.

“We had expected to start at $2.2 million, and from there it was fast and furious,” the agent said.

The price jumped to $2.4 million in one bid, then to $2.425 million before pausing at $2.5 million with the eventual buyer.

“It stopped there and we were still $25,000 off the reserve price, but were able to negotiate up $25,000 to the sale price and close that gap.”

The buyer is a local family who will move from their current home in Chelmer in the inner west.

Alas, there will be no cross-city relocation for “the dark horse” who mysteriously appeared at the auction of a six-bedroom house in Wynnum, 16 kilometres to Brisbane’s east.

The feature-packed modern home set on 2045 square metres in the bayside suburb drew strong interest from three family groups pre-auction, agent Joseph Lordi of Sotheby’s Realty said.

All buyers were young local families and all pre-registered to bid.

In front of about 45 people gathered inside the property’s expansive ground living room, bidding started at $1.4 million, jumped to $1.7 million “within a couple of minutes”, paused for vendor consultation before the eventual buyer offered another $50,000 to move the price to $1.75 million.

Further private negotiation between the agent and the buyer “near the pool” ended in a sale price of $1,757,500 – a record for the suburb for 2018, according to the agent.

“It was exciting.  We had the dark horse turn up after seeing the property for the first time from the [advertising] A-frames on the street while driving around, liking what they saw, registering and bidding,” the agent said.

“They were keen to move to this area from their base in Bardon [north of the city] but didn’t quite get there on Saturday.

“After our pool negotiations, we came back inside, called for any further bids, and the buyer raised his paddle and offered $1,757,500.

“We called it three times and knocked it down in front of a room of witnesses.

“It was a record, a good result for Wynnum and I would not be surprised if the phone starts ringing on the back of this.”