Retiree Alan Gray is downsizing from his Helensvale home. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT
IT has been more than 50 years since Alan Gray bought his first home in Melbourne when he was 22 years old.
Back then, like now, the biggest hurdle facing first-home buyers was saving for a house deposit.
“When you go back over the last few generations, there has always been some difficulty or obstacle you need to find a way around when you try and purchase your first home,” said Mr Gray.
“These days, the worst issue for first-home buyers is the pricing itself and that means a very large deposit you have to try to save when wages haven’t increased at the same rate.”
Mr Gray and his wife Lorraine have bought an apartment in a new Hope Island retirement village. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT
Mr Gray just retired in August from a long career as a broker, while his wife of 23 years, Lorraine, was a property manager.
They’ve watched the market through boom and bust cycles, investing in Qld over the last 30 years before making the decision to downsize, buying into Esperance Hope Island, an upmarket retirement village now under construction.
The couple sold their luxury Helensvale family home under the hammer for $1.245m through Thomas Fliniks, of Ray White Hope Island.
“I think the auction process right now has never been more important because it provides a harmonious experience, rather than a seller feeling like they’ve taken too little or a buyer feeling like they’ve paid too much,” Mr Fliniks said.
The luxury home sold under the hammer for $1.245m
The owners found the auction process was the best way to proceed
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Latest data from comparison website Finder.com.au shows the average household income required to buy a house in Helensvale is $208,666, while loan repayments sat about about $5,217 per month.
House prices in the area have soared 28.4 per cent over the last 12 months.
Mr Gray said he feared they’d missed the market after the four-bedroom Bayden Goddard home failed to sell when listed with another agent earlier this year.
They’ve invested in Qld property for the last 30 years
“Having never auctioned a property before, we decided to give it a try this time because we’d previously listed our home and didn’t get the attraction that we wanted,” he said.
“We had met up with Thomas when we’d been looking around at different open homes, and we decided to re-group and went ahead with a very short auction program.”
The Serenity Blvd property on a 660sq m block was marketed for three weeks, with the top bid on auction day $95,000 more than the highest offer during the campaign.
Property records show the Grays purchased the home for $690,000 in 2017.
The post Auction leads to next step in property journey for retirees appeared first on realestate.com.au.