Ray White Queensland auction bonanza

The event saw a 63 per cent clearance rate with $15,798,000 worth of stock sold and attracted 71 registered bidders with several coming along on the day to bid on multiple properties.

Ray White Queensland chief auctioneer Gavin Croft (pictured above) said bringing 40 properties together across south-east Queensland provided a good snapshot of the current market.

“We’ve been hovering around 40 to 50 per cent clearance rate lately but to achieve 63 per cent speaks to the strength in the market late in the year. Today, we saw particular strength in the unit market,” Mr Croft said.

“There’s been a bit of urgency in people to secure property before the end of the year and have their 2023 plans in place. Going into Christmas they want to have their investment asset or family home secured.

“Today has been another demonstration of the sophistication of this method of sale and how accepted it is with the volume of bidding done today.”

The top sale of the day belonged to Ray White Commercial Northern Corridor Group. Marketing agents Luke Hobman and Chris Massie sold 1162 Sandgate Rd, Nundah for $2.75 million to a local buyer.

“We had three registered bidders and good enquiry during the campaign,” Mr Hobman said.

“In our market, industrial stock is performing really well, while office and retail stock has taken a hit because of sentiment, and yields have expanded.”

One of the standout sales of the day was “Wongarilla” 722 Noosa Rd, Mothar Mountain, marketed by Ray White Rural Queensland and Ray White Gympie’s Jez McNamara, Michael Chalmers and Jason Mattiazi. The 86ha property sold for $2.215 million to buyers from Central Queensland after eight buyers registered to bid.

Seller, Helen Lofthouse and her husband said they were thrilled with the result which now means they can move on to the next phase of their lives.

“We’ve decided to retire and move closer to Brisbane. We’ve also got a big caravan and we’re going to do some travelling and let our lives evolve,” Ms Lofthouse said.

“We just decided to live our lives like we mean it. Step one was getting the caravan and step two was selling the farm.

“We’ve lived on the farm for 21 years and in the area for 35 years so it’s the end of an era but we’re excited for the next step."