An iconic Coorparoo home once owned by former Lions captain Michael Voss has sold over reserve after a local family splashed $5.023 million during one of Brisbane’s fiercest auctions since the federal budget poured fresh uncertainty on an already cooling market.
Six bidders battled it out for the sprawling five-bedroom estate at 62 Marriott Street, with dozens of “spirited” blows traded over 50 minutes until the hammer fell.
The eventual winners weren’t in the crowd. Too nervous to watch, they sat in a car around the corner while their buyer’s agent fought for the keys.
The result offered an early glimpse into what experts say is an emerging trend across Brisbane, with prestige family homes proving more resilient than the broader market slowdown.
And few family homes are more market-proof than the Coorparoo estate.
Spanning 606 square metres of single-level living on a landscaped 1303-square-metre block, the home traces its history back to the 1940s, when it was built by a local doctor who later ran his surgery from the property.
In 2009, former Lions captain and Brownlow medallist Michael Voss purchased the home for $2.5 million, with the estate becoming his family residence during much of his coaching tenure. He sold it to the current owners in 2017 for $2.575 million.
Joseph Leong, who marketed the home with James Curtain of Place Woolloongabba, said the owners had already extensively renovated the property before calling in an “army of tradespeople” to perfect it for sale.
“They went above and beyond. They even repainted things buyers wouldn’t even see – like the inside of a wardrobe,” he said.
But the timing proved nerve wracking. The couple had already purchased a new home closer to their child’s school and secured bridging finance to prepare the Coorparoo property for sale when the federal budget dropped.
“They were really worried about the effects of the budget and that it wouldn’t sell under the hammer. But it sold above their expectations,” he said.
“To be fair it’s such a unique home and these rarely come up for sale. It’s probably independent to the macro elements of the market right now because these are the kind of homes people get emotional about.”
Also not trusting their nerves, the purchasers enlisted buyer’s agent Jamie Charman to bid on their behalf – a poetic twist given the former Lions player once played under Voss.
Against four other families, Charman opened bidding at around $4 million, sparking a flurry of $100,000 blows until the home was called on the market at $4.8 million.
By the $5 million mark it came down to two.
Charman said the intensity of the contest surprised him, but reinforced the strength of demand for quality family homes.
“We’ve certainly seen the investment market on hold following the budget but that market is still relatively tight for family homes,” he said.
“A lot of my clients are families similar to the ones I represented on Saturday – they are people willing to pay that little bit more for liveability.”
It was one of 189 scheduled auctions across South East Queensland over the past week. By Saturday evening, Domain recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 25 per cent from 118 reported results, with 31 homes withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold when calculating clearance rates.
In New Farm, a retired Perth couple returning home after 30 years away secured a ground-floor apartment in one of Brisbane’s most tightly held streets despite never setting foot inside.
The pair paid a reserve topping $1.798 million for 1/10 Oxlade Drive after relying on the wife’s sister and mum to inspect the property and bid on their behalf.
Selling agent Aaron Woolard, of Place New Farm, said the buyers were drawn to the apartment’s rare ground-floor position and the chance to live in the same street as family.
It attracted six registered bidders, with three actively fighting for the keys. Bidding opened at $1.5 million with two owner occupiers, including the Perth couple, duelling it out to $1.72 million when it was announced on the market. From there, one party dropped out and an investor jumped in.
“He playing it really cool and calm. He was sat outside of the room and playing on his phone but then would throw out a thousand bucks,” Woolard said.
“But the sister was really calm and put in the last bid. At the end her and her mum were crying.”
Woolard said the result reinforced that quality properties in tightly held locations were continuing to attract strong competition amid uncertainty.
In Indooroopilly, a Papua New Guinean expat paid $4.4 million for a tightly-held riverfront home after emerging as the sole bidder.
It’s the first time the five-bedroom home, at 25 Radnor Street, has hit the market since being custom more than three decades ago.
Nestled behind established trees on a 1787-square-metre block, the home attracted more than 80 groups throughout the campaign despite many locals having no idea it existed.
Selling agent Christine Rudolph, of Ray White Collective, said the buyer inspected the home a week before the auction before flying back overseas and bidding via phone.
“They have owned properties in the local area and were looking for the perfect riverfront site.
“And you could tell they emotionally connected with it.”
Rudolph said the buyer plans to extensively renovate.
She added the result reflected a market increasingly splitting into two camps – buyers waiting for greater certainty and buyers who see the current conditions as an opportunity.
“We’re certainly not seeing distressed selling or frenzied buying. But what we are seeing is something closer to a pre-COVID market,” she said.
Ray White chief economist Nerida Conisbee said momentum had drained from Brisbane’s market, with the group’s clearance rate falling from 62 per cent this time last year to 44.7 per cent on Saturday.
“Our average active bidders dropped from 3.7 this time last year to 2.2 on Saturday and average attendees have fallen from four to 2.4,” she said.
“This is not just ambiguity from the budget, it’s uncertainty.
“There’s an expectation prices will fall or slow significantly, so that’s taken a lot of urgency out of the market and people are stepping back.”
Conisbee said uncertainty remained one of the most powerful forces in behavioural economics and was now influencing everyone from investors to first-home buyers.
But she said prestige family homes could emerge as an unlikely beneficiary.
“The family home is a tax-free asset that isn’t subject to capital gains tax or land tax,” she said.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
