Sarah Webb

November 16, 2026 — 9:46am

A pair of first home buyers outmuscled four flippers to nab the “worst house in the best street” - paying $676,000 under the hammer in an auction described as “the government changes in action”.

In dire need of a renovation to fix the leaky roof, remove the pigeons from the ceiling and rid the
walls of asbestos, the deceased estate at 66 Boxgrove Avenue, Wynnum, attracted five property flippers, with four battling it out against the first home buyers after a phone bidder opened at $400,000.

The five then duked it out in slow rises until the hammer fell 30 minutes later.

“This is the government [Budget] changes in action,” said selling agent Zoe O’Connor of Ray White Bulimba.

“They [the buyers] have been bidding for homes in suburbs like Acacia Ridge … this is the cheapest
house they could have possibly found in Brisbane City Council,” she said.

“They thought it was so out-of-reach, and I’m so glad they were brave enough to take the plunge, and it will set them up for their rest of their lives now … they were crying when they got it.”

Domain’s latest House Price Report shows Wynnum’s median is $1.35 million.

O’Connor said the home received an unconditional $800,000 offer during the campaign, which was
knocked back.

“So it sold for less than what it was worth,” she said.

The deceased estate belonged to a beloved musician and librarian who spent decades filling the three-bedroom home with books, records and collectables. Before it hit the market, volunteers and professionals spent months decluttering and removing an infestation of snakes and rats from the yard.

The new owners will have their work cut out for them, but O’Connor said one half of the pair is a
carpenter and his dad’s an electrician.

The home was one of 236 scheduled auctions across South East Queensland over the past week. By Saturday evening, Domain recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 17 per cent from 171 reported results, with 27 homes withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold when calculating clearance rates.

In New Farm, a buyer relocating from Sydney outbid a downsizer, paying $1,275,000 under the
hammer for a recently renovated two-bedroom unit at 1/43 Oxlade Drive.

The home features 151 square metres of living space, two bathrooms and one car space. It last sold
in May 2023 for $980,000.

Three bidders registered and two bid after the auction opened at $1.2 million. Selling agent Patrick Goldsworthy, of Place Bulimba, said it took “around 30 or 40 minutes” to increase the price just $75,000.

“But we stuck it out … I think given the market it’s a great result,” he said. “The seller was certainly comfy [with the result].”

The vendors are upsizing to a nearby riverfront home. Goldsworthy said buyers were still active in the market despite noting an uptick in second home buyers moving from units to houses.

“I think buyers are starting to understand that if their intention is to buy in the next 12 to 24 months then the best time for a discount is now,” he said.

In Nundah, a first home buyer couple was the sole bidder on a three-bedroom townhouse at 3/95 York Street – paying $1,210,000.

The dual-level, two-bathroom home sits a stone’s throw from the suburb’s village and features a double-lock-up garage, timber floors, and a balcony on a 202-square-metre parcel.

Bidding opened at $1.1 million, sparking 15 minutes of negotiations until it sold under the hammer.

For the sellers – a young family who are upgrading - it was a tidy profit on the $1.05 million they paid in February last year.

Auctioneer Glenn Bool, of Place, called it “still good money” and a rare case of vendors turning a
profit in that time.

“I believe it [Nundah] was the suburb the buyers had their heart set on,” he said. “They were jumping up and down [when the gavel fell].”

Bool said one-bidder auctions had become par for the course in recent months, but he’d spied a
recent uptick.

“I sold six homes under the hammer in the last 72 hours … and we haven’t been able to say that for a
while,” he said. “It’s really encouraging.”

Bool put the lift down to a general sentiment that interest rates were unlikely to rise again and a
belief that the market was “as bad as it’s going to get”.

LJ Hooker head of research and economics, Matthew Tiller, said Brisbane’s low clearance rate still pointed to a lack of confidence and uncertainty among buyers.

“It’s just that kind of the cycle,” he said.

Despite the slump Tiller said rates will “definitely” hold steady for this year and probably into the next, which could rebuild buyer and seller confidence.

“The next live [RBA] decision will be February and by that time the culmination of all the hikes will
have flowed through the economy and we should see inflation trending in the right direction and the
economy will be a little be softer,” he said.

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Source: The Sydney Morning Herald · Sarah Webb

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