A dilapidated timber house on a cliff’s edge has set a record price for the seaside suburb of Moffat Beach after being purchased by the RSL Art Union.
The 1950s property perched on Moffat Headland sold for $6 million, effectively just for the land (542sqm) as the aged house is expected to be knocked down to build a lottery home.
Agent Dave Millar continued the family tradition of selling multimillion-dollar properties in the most iconic beach locations.
His father David sold the landmark 1970s ‘Spanish house’ on the dunes at Dicky Beach for $4.5 million in 2007.
The run-down, two-bedroom Moffat shack has the most astonishing and uninterrupted views of the coastline stretching from Moffat Beach to Point Cartwright.
The veranda overlooks the popular surf break at Moffat Beach and the entire house is infused with the sound of crashing waves as the sun beams down.
“It’s facing north, you can watch the many ships that are waiting to go to Brisbane,” Mr Millar said.
“It looks north to Point Cartwright, Mount Coolum, Buderim, in the distance Montville, and the beaches from Moffat right through to Point Cartwright.”
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Previously owned by businessman Tony Thompson, a vineyard owner, as an investment and beach house, it is located on one of the most tightly held streets on the Coast.
The old houses on McIllwraith Street have gradually been demolished over the years to make way for medium-rise, prestige apartment buildings.
The property at No.15 is just one of a handful of original homes remaining, some of which are in similarly poor condition.
“On McIllraith, there’s only a handful of residential properties that aren’t developed into units and generally they’ve been owned by multi-generational owners,” Mr Millar said.
“This was a pristine holiday spot for people in Brisbane; the same with Queen of Colonies Parade where there’s only a couple of houses left.”
It’s understood 19 Queen of Colonies Parade sold earlier this year for under $6 million.
Mr Millar said the property attracted huge interest but the eventual buyer needed to have deep pockets, not just to buy the old house but rebuild.
“Properties of this price and calibre limit the field of real buyers down to a handful,” he said.
It’s anticipated the RSL Art Union, which is Australia’s biggest prize home lottery, will redevelop the site with a new multimillion-dollar property.
The eventual prize would be worth well over $6 million by the time a house or apartments are built, but that’s not unusual for the lottery group.
Some of the prize packages currently being raffled on the Gold Coast are valued at $12.5 million and $10.6 million.
Moffat Headland is the most distinctive feature of the suburb, with a pedestrian footpath that runs in front of the properties and alongside the cliff edge.
The area was named after a chemist from Brisbane, James C. Moffat, who bought eight hectares (20 acres) in 1882 and established a cottage on the headland that now bears his name.
His land holding stretched from Moffat Headland to the location of the current Caloundra Golf Club and northwards from William Street to Cooroora Street in Dicky Beach.
