It’s the beachside suburb that’s been forever overshadowed by its high-end neighbours but is now coming into its own with a record $1.216 million sale.
Say the name Battery Hill and few people outside the area even know where the working class suburb of humble shacks and brick bunkers is.
Sandwiched between its expensive brothers Dicky Beach and Currimundi, and just around the corner from Moffat Beach’s multimillion-dollar homes, the unheralded suburb is now drawing buyers’ attention due to its relative affordability and proximity to the sea.
It’s the just the latest slumbering suburb to hit its stride as the Sunshine Coast revs up, after the Birtinya/Bokarina/Wurtulla area was recently anointed the new ‘golden triangle‘.
Just a few years ago you could pick up houses just a block from the beach in Battery Hill in the mid-400s, but now that’s just the profit.
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House prices this week hit a new record with the settlement of 4 Vickers Street, described as ‘coastal chic’, which went to a Perth buyer for $1.216 million through an expressions of interest process.
That was a massive profit of $478,500 for the vendor who bought the four-bedroom home in a cul-de-sac for $737,500 in 2018.
Selling agent Carol Carr, from Ray White, said the current property frenzy on the Sunshine Coast made it difficult to set a price tag so the vendor opted to see what the market was willing to pay.
“I never expected it would get that much to be honest. We wanted to see what the market would come up with and it happened. It was just crazy,” she said.
Battery Hill was where Caloundra’s first European resident, Thomas John Ballinger, built a slab hut by the beach in 1881 and raised sheep on his selection on the hill.
Around 1882 the area was fortified when it was feared that the Russians would invade Australia.
Developers later retained the Battery Hill name, recognising the area’s World War Two history, where Australian troops undertook artillery training in the vicinity of Currimundi and Battery Hill.
Remax agent Dan Arndt, who has been selling in Battery Hill for four years, said the Vickers Street record price was already causing a stir and pushing up values of other homes on the market.
Not long after the sale, a double-storey property at 22 Browning Boulevard closed with a $922,000 deal on a street that a few years ago was selling in the low 600s.
Mr Arndt said buyers were now specifically seeking out Battery Hill because of its proximity to water, yet relative affordability.
“Battery Hill has always been overlooked. I don’t think the name actually helps. If it was maybe called Dicky Beach South it might have got a bit more traction,” he said.
“It’s definitely a suburb that’s highly sought after now, I get lots of enquiries.
“In the past, people would ring up and ask about the other four beaches – Kings, Shelly, Dicky and Moffats but now Battery Hill and Currimundi are very much part of the conversation and people outside the area are very much asking about Battery Hill, so it’s getting more popular.
“It’s not the poor brother of beachside suburbs any more; it’s really catching up.”
Mr Arndt said Battery Hill was just as close to the water as its richer suburban neighbours, but buyers could get more bang for their dollar compared to Dicky Beach.
“For a million in Moffat Beach, Dicky Beach and Currimundi you sort of get a knockdown, but you can still get a million-dollar house in Battery Hill that’s quite nice with a pool and still walking distance to the beach,” he said.
The previous record was $1.1 million in 2018, high on the hill in Anderson Street.
Other recent sales have included:
- 791 Nicklin Way $680,000 (four bedroom, two bathroom)
- 14 Milbong Street $670,000 (three bedroom, one bathroom)
- 6/29 Browning Boulevard $355,000 (two bedroom unit)
Mr Arndt said many of the buyer enquiries and sales were from Brisbane investors who were keeping tenants in place.
“There are some Sydney and Melbourne buyers up here but to be honest I haven’t seen them; a lot them are from Brisbane.”
The Vickers Street house was being sold by the owner who was moving to Melbourne and will be taken up by a family from Perth who are currently travelling across Australia as they move to the Sunshine Coast.
Ms Carr said the vendor had received many offers, some even higher than the final price but which fell through.
In the end of the Perth family wrote their personal story as part of their offer which helped set them apart and reaffirmed the vendor’s decision to sell to them.
