PHOTO: This home at Port Douglas recently sold for $8.5 million. Property prices in other regional areas are also going for top dollar. (Supplied: Sotheby’s International Realty)
They turned out in droves for the auction.
On a bright, sunny Saturday a few weeks back, the bidding was furious, jumping in lots of more than $100,000 and even multiples. By the time it was over, in less than half an hour, the house was under the hammer for a town record of $5.27 million.
The property, perched on a steep rise across the road from a pandanus-lined headland, is a nice place. Tasteful with never to be built out panoramic views of the Pacific, it has been split into two apartments. Only a thin strip of asphalt separates it from a bushy track that leads to a nook of northern NSW coastal perfection.
But $5 plus million? The town, a couple of hours south of the Queensland border and the madness and mayhem of Byron Bay, is studded with fibro and frangipani and boasts a dilapidated pub. For decades a sleepy little fishing haven, it largely was overlooked by the glamour set jetting into Byron. Until now.
Like many quiet corners of the country, real estate prices have gone mad. The frenzy, driven mainly by escapees from the Big Smoke, shows little sign of slowing. And while the official figures point to a rise of around 10 per cent across regional NSW in the past year, the situation on the ground suggests otherwise.
Anything with water views, or proximity to a beach, has seen meteoric price rises. From just three years ago, prices have doubled and, in some cases, trebled leaving rusted=on locals flushed at the prospect of newfound wealth but fearful for the future of their families.
Can it continue? Or is this just a bubble within a much bigger bubble?
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