A single-level home in Runcorn didn’t need extensive renovations to draw a crowd of nearly 100 people: demand was so high that all it needed was a fresh coat of paint.
The house saw nine registered bidders competing to grab the property in the southern suburb of Brisbane, advertised as a spacious “sanctuary” in a quiet neighbourhood.
10 Ferntree Court, Runcorn
The home was sold by Ray White Rochedale, who put the home on the market after the house had been repainted and recarpeted, otherwise unchanged from when it was bought in 2017.
Agent Benny Liu said amenities such as accessibility and extra garage room go a long way in explaining the home’s popularity.
“I think for a large lowset house in that area close to public transport … it’s hard to find,” he said. “People love to have extra space.”
Around six bidders were actively going head to head over securing the home, with the auction starting at an offer of $750,000.
“There was some hesitation, but when it got to over $950,000, there was quite an intense bidding back and forth,” Mr Liu said.
Dozens of bids were made as the competition whittled down to two people, raising the offer by $1,000 a time over ten bids.
Moving down to increases of $500, the winning bidders managed to secure the win after 30 bids, with an offer of $1.15 million.
The suburb median in Runcorn is $974,000.
Nearly 100 people had to find a place to stand as they watched the auction go ahead, with the price quickly rising above the suburb median.
The old owners and the new buyers were both families of four, with the sellers upsizing to Carindale and the buyers having moved from Sydney.
Mr Liu said the winners had moved for a lifestyle change, eventually growing fond of Brisbane enough to make the stay long-term.
“They’ve been through a few auctions now,” he said. “They’re relieved now, because they bought [a home] eventually.”
With both sellers and buyers happy, Mr Liu added the family expected to renovate some of the more outdated amenities in the home.
“The house is okay, but original condition,” he said. “The bathrooms are original, the kitchens are original, so they’ll need to do some work to it.”
Single-level homes are valued for their accessibility, and are popular with both downsizers and buyers who want convenient living.
Single-level homes have seen high levels of popularity this year, according to agents. Ray White Sunnybank Hills agent George Yang said he had seen several people from different age groups looking to move to single-level homes in 2024, such as a couple he recently sold a home to.
“They’re a young couple, but they like being on a single level, not having to deal with stairs,” he said. “Some are doing it for downsizing, some prefer just living on the one level”.
While not every Saturday auction drew a crowd a hundred strong, Brisbane saw improvement in auction presence this week in 2024.
PropTrack’s Property Preview Report for this week showed a 15 per cent increase in Queensland auctions compared to this time in 2023, with 294 auctions across the state.
While this is just an 11 per cent increase in Brisbane at 172 auctions, regional Queensland experienced a growth of 21 per cent, reaching 122.
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