Gold Coast penthouse tops Queensland apartment sales in weekend auctions
Queensland’s top auction sale at weekend auctions was $3.7 million for an apartment on the Gold Coast. The Liberty Pacific sub-penthouse was sold by an upgrader in the 1999 Mirvac built complex.
It sold through Jackson Paradise from Ray White Prestige. He had eight registered bidders for the four-bedroom Main Beach sub penthouse at 1181/1 Lennie Street.
The Lennie Avenue apartment sold to a couple from Sydney who flew up to see their desired holiday home property last Friday. “We are seeing a huge amount of interest in the Gold Coast prestige market, both from holiday home buyers and relocators,” Paradise said. It last sold at $2.3 million in 2014. It first sold at 1.35 million in 1999.
CoreLogic calculated 53 percent of Queensland's apartment offerings were sold on the weekend, compared with 83 percent of its house offerings. The top weekend auction result was a Point Piper penthouse that sold on Friday evening, just hours prior to its scheduled Saturday auction at $16 million plus. The whole-floor apartment in the tightly held Wentworth Place block comes with three bedrooms and three-bathrooms. It has views to the Bridge and Opera House.
The Wentworth Street penthouse has 300sq m of internal space plus 300sq m rooftop terracing. It traded 28 years ago at $3,325,000 and at $3.85 million in 1989. CoreLogic data showed that 86 percent of Sydney apartment listings found buyers at weekend auction, just lower than the 90 percent success rate for houses.
The national weekend unit clearance rate was 73 percent, compared to 84 percent for houses. There were 2,451 homes taken to auction across the combined capital cities last week, up from 2,128 over the previous week, although lower than this time last year when 3,026 auctions were held.
Of the 2,053 results collected so far, 81.9 per cent reported a successful result, down from last week’s preliminary auction clearance rate of 84.4 per cent, which revised down to 79.6 per cent at final figures. Over the same week last year, 73.9 per cent of reported auctions were successful across the combined capital cities.
The final auction clearance rate has held above 75 per cent since auction reporting re-commenced in late January after the seasonal slowdown and this week will likely be no exception despite higher volumes. In Melbourne, 1,273 homes were taken to auction, compared to 1,095 over the previous week and 1,612 this time last year.
Of the 1,091 auction results collected so far, 77.7 per cent were reported as successful, down from the previous week’s preliminary clearance rate of 82.2 per cent, which revised down to 77.4 per cent at final figures. Sydney was host to 844 auctions this week, increasing from 768 over the previous week, although lower than this time last year when 1,087 homes were taken to auction across the city.
The preliminary clearance rate came in at 88.9 per cent this week, up slightly from the previous week’s preliminary clearance rate of 88.2 per cent, which revised down to 83.4 per cent at final figures.
This time last year, 76.6 per cent of reported auctions were successful. "It is likely that Sydney’s final clearance rate will come in around the low to mid 80 per cent range for the 4th consecutive week," CoreLogic's Tim Lawless said. Across the smaller cities, Canberra recorded the highest preliminary clearance rate at 84.7 per cent, followed by Adelaide (82.5 per cent) and Brisbane (79.0 per cent).