Most of a rural Queensland town, which went to auction without a reserve price, sold collectively for $156,000 on Saturday.
The sleepy town of Yelarbon woke up to crowds of up to 200 people who had flocked to the southern Queensland town in hopes of scoring a bargain.
The three auctions attracted 60 registered bidders and sold to three separate buyers.
True Country Realty agent Tomas Hohn said bidding was strong throughout.
“The first auction of five shops sold for $60,000; the two freestanding shops sold for $26,000; and the house sold for $70,000,” Mr Hohn said.
“The number of people who came to the town was about half of the population here,” he said.
“Hopefully the town’s other businesses have also benefited from it too.”
He said the new owners hadn’t revealed their plans yet, but time would tell.
The properties had been with their former owner for 15 years.
REIQ chief executive officer Antonia Mercorella said the success of “no reserve” auctions was usually dependent on the attention they receive.
“Often agents will use them to amplify marketing activities,” Ms Mercorella said.
“In theory the property can be sold for as little as $1. This captures the imagination of the property-watching public who are attracted to the idea.”
The properties had been with their former owner for 15 years.
True Country Realty selling agent, and auctioneer on the day, Jodi Bynon said the idea behind the risky move (no reserve) was to attract attention – and it certainly did that.
“The thinking was it would add to exposure and help with advertising the auctions, because it’s a tiny little town,” Mr Bynon said.
He said one standout reason made the properties a good buy. Basically the return on investment would be better than anywhere,” he said. Interest in the sale, and in particular, media attention, came from across Australia.
