The taller they are, the harder they fall: Q1 prices falling steeply from boom-time Surfers Paradise highs

The taller they are, the harder they fall: Q1 prices falling steeply from boom-time Surfers Paradise highs
Jonathan ChancellorDecember 8, 2020

It’s the tallest building in Australia, and the Q1 has recorded some of the steepest price falls over the past financial year.

Just one of the 28 recorded sales since July last year actually went up on its previous boom-time sale price.

The average price drop among the 27 price falls was 26% on its former boom-time sale.

The worst fall was 51% on the 57th floor, with a $970,000 mortgagee sale. It had fetched $2 million in 2006.

There were another seven sales reflecting declines of 40% or higher, three of which were on the upper floors with $1 million plus prices.

Just six of the sales were officially mortgagee sales.

The only apartment that went up was on the 23rd floor, and it was nothing special. It fetched $326,000 in January, having last sold at $321,000 in 2002.

The cheapest sale was $250,000 on the 12th floor, which was 21% less than its $318,000 off-the-plan sale price in 2002.

The priciest resale was $1.3 million on the 71st floor. It had sold at $2.32 million in 2003, reflecting an overall 41% drop, having also sold in the interim at $1.6 million in 2009.

There were also 28 apartment sales in the 2010-11 financial year with just one official mortgagee sale.

Q1 is ranked the world's third tallest residential tower after the 348-metre building The Marina Torch in Dubai won formal recognition as the tallest residential building in the world in April 2011.

Q1 is the tallest building in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere when measured to the top of its spire and second tallest building behind Eureka Tower in Melbourne when measured to roof and highest habitable floor.

The Sunland development group-built highest apartment is its 74th-floor penthouse with a sprawling size of 940 square metres. An Oatlands, NSW couple spent $4.8 million in 2010 on the Q1 Surfers Paradise penthouse. It previously sold off the plan for $7.8 million in 2002, reflecting a 38% decline.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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