Why Sunnybank is Brisbane’s auction hotspot and why it’ll be hard to replicate

A perfect mix of low prices, cashed-up buyers, and competition has turned Brisbane’s Sunnybank into an auction hotspot, with one agent reporting 80 per cent of properties going to auction.

Sunnybank and the surrounding suburbs have had a huge boom in prices as Asian communities flock to the area, all jostling to stay close to family or the Sunnybank Central shopping and dining precinct.

Owen Chen of Place Sunnybank witnessed the transformation occur since 2013 and said the effect was obvious.

Sunnybank’s Asian community continues to grow and attract more buyers. Photo: Robert Shakespeare

“There was a low entry level for Sunnybank and the surrounding suburbs, about 10 suburbs, he said. “The median was about $480,000 to $500,000.”

The median for Sunnybank itself has reached $763,250 so far this year, according to PriceFinder figures.  

“Before 2013, the property market was very quiet and very steady,” Mr Chen said, adding there were several other factors, unique to the mainland Chinese and Asian communities that created the conditions for auctions to flourish.

Ray White auctioneer Phil Parker says understanding the auction process is critical. Photo: Glenn Hunt

“The percentage of Chinese people buying in the area is quite high, about 85 per cent,” he said. “This type of buyer is from mainland China, they have a permanent visa and they have money or their parents still in China.”

Mr Chen said because several generations of a family tend to live in the same home, families generally had more money to throw around. “They have parents and probably grandparents and they’re all cashing out.”

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This is where the market diverged from other burgeoning hotspots in Brisbane.

Ray White’s veteran auctioneer Phil Parker said not every property market took well to the auction process and the major barrier to entry wasn’t the popularity of the suburb or the prices, but how well those involved understood how the process worked.

“The general public and real estate agents don’t understand the benefits of going to auction, and if you don’t understand you won’t be OK with the concept,” he said. “And the ones that understand are the agencies that embrace the concept.”

Mr Parker said the core concept to understand about auctions was their ability to get an honest response out of both buyers and sellers.

“It doesn’t matter where you go, one thing is that every owner, regardless of where their property is located, would like to get as much as they possibly can, and every buyer, regardless of location, would like to get the property for as little as they can,” he said.

For auctions to become ingrained in the real estate culture of an area like Mr Chen says it is in Sunnybank, Mr Parker said all parties involved needed a grip on the benefits of the process.

Mr Chen agreed. “The property market is like an ocean,” he said. “In certain parts of the ocean, you have lots of fish. But other parts not so much.”