Court-ordered no-reserve Brisbane auction a success

A five-bedroom Brisbane house, marketed as being sold under instructions from the Family Court, sold at its no-reserve weekend auction.

While its Rexmax estate agent Rod Westerhuis predicted pre-auction that the consequences "could be dire" it fetched a respectable $525,000.

“It’s hard to argue we didn’t achieve market value,” Westerhuis told Property Observer.

He says there were five bidders at the auction.

It last sold at $166,000 in 1999.

There were 48 parties keen to bid at the onsite auction who were within three bids at the offer at $400,000.

The median house price in Gaythorne is $507,500, according to RP Data, with prices down by 9% over the past year.

Westerhuis had given the vendors written advice about the possible consequences of having no reserve after the Family Court judge had suggested the owners use a no-reserve auction as a way to finally sell their property and settle a court matter

The owners were instructed they must sell by a certain date, no matter the price, Westerhuis notes.

"This is so rare," he says. "Incredibly rare. I've consulted a solicitor about this and we've found only one other case in Australia where this has happened."

The dual-lot property, in Gaythorne, seven kilometres north-west of Brisbane's city centre, is a three-bedroom Queenslander set on 809 square metres of land.

It sold to someone who will subdivided subject to council approvals.

The property was auctioned in August but failed to attract a single bid – passed in on a vendor bid of $500,000.