Poor fortune for those who went to the Oracle on the Gold Coast

Almost every off-the-plan purchase in the Oracle development in Surfers Paradise has lost money when resold.

Property Observer has found 42 instances where a unit in the 505-unit tower sold at a loss.

There were just five instances where a property has resold at a higher price than the previous sale.

There was one which resold for the same price.

The worst case was unit 2205 which originally sold for $2.435 million 2012 and resold six months later for $1.675 million – a loss of $760,000.

Unit 2305 originally sold for $2.465 million in 2006 and then resold six years later for $1.725 million – a loss of $740,000.

Unit 3401 originally sold for 1.81 million in 2006 and resold for $1.3 million in 2012 – a $510,000 loss.

And recent speculators have lost money too. Unit 23202 originally sold for $1.9 million in July 2012 and then resold for $1.3 million in February this year – a $600,000 loss.

But some did make money in the building. Unit 906 originally sold for $655,000 in 2006 and then for $405,000 in 2011. But it then sold again for $512,500 in 2012 – $107,000 more.

According to Colliers, high rise stock in the Gold Coast is at its lowest level in a decade with a recent surge of people buying into developments like Oracle.

“Over the past year projects that had a significant overhang of stock, such as Oracle, Hilton and Soul have sold a significant number of apartments and people are buying into those buildings with confidence,” Colliers’ Tony Holland said.

“They know the future looks good for the Gold Coast, with around 10,000 people moving to the region every year and significant projects such as the 2018 Commonwealth Games set to give the area a huge boost.”

There were 13 sales in the two Oracle towers over the June quarter. Tower one is reportedly 80% sold out, and tower two is 75%.

During 2012 units were being sold by the receivers at half their 2005 off-the-plan asking price.

One-bedroom units on the ground floor sold for $460,000 in 2012 – less than half the original asking price.

KordaMentha, the receivers of the troubled project took over from the Nikiforides-run South Sky Investments in December 2010.

They reportedly sold more than 100 during 2012, a third of those to Queenslanders, after relaunching Oracle at the end of 2011.

The results are similar to the Hilton Surfers Paradise development where 40 of 41 apartments in the ill-fated development, resold  at big losses.