Brisbane auctions: Couple sell family home to the same people twice, 10 years apart

They weren’t wearing a scarp of green but the Henrys felt the sale of their house was lucky this St Patrick’s Day.

Fiona and Phil offloaded the four-bedroom home at 52 Piddington Street, Ashgrove for a healthy $1,395,000 – but that wasn’t the only reason they said the sale was fortuitous.

“It is really incredibly lucky that the beautiful family that we sold our previous house 10 years ago to have now bought this house from us,” Ms Henry said. “I do think it was meant to be.”

Husband Phil added: “I think it was poetic too, and I think that appealed to the new owners as well.”

The buyers had only just started looking for a new home, but fell in love with the Henrys’ styling and renovation work for a second time.

“It was what we really aimed for. It’s our style and we’ve been getting better every time, it’s creating a real private haven that you can come home to and just really relax and recharge,” Ms Henry said.

Some common themes were evident, Mr Henry said. “They’re both quite different houses but they’re both on one level, behind a fence with surrounded by greenery.”

The buyers, who asked not to be named, said the new home was an upgrade for them. “It’s a nice house, with a lot of space and it just has some areas that we don’t really have at the moment,” the husband said.

“It’s got a lovely relaxed Queensland feel, a beautiful outlook for a lovely family home,” his wife added.

• Related: The Brisbane suburbs about to hit a $1m median
• Related: Why more Brisbanites are picking up townhouses
• Related: Auction for looted house set to go off in Woody Point

They beat out several other registered bidders to secure the home, bidding quickly and confidently to bring the house from its starting bid of $1 million to the sale price.

Selling agent Judi O’Dea said the balance between character and modernity had been perfectly struck by the Henrys.

“It’s seamless. There’s no ‘this is the old and this is the new’. The styles meld together brilliantly,” she said. “People really like a bit of character in their homes rather than something that’s more contemporary.”

Later in Toowong, a large family home built on a sloping block at 37 Kapunda Street sold to a young couple after a protracted auction.

Auctioneer and selling agent Jack Dixon struggled to pull bids from the registered bidders until the home was on the market.

After a low opening bid of $865,000, Mr Dixon placed a vendor bid of $1.1 million.

Two bidders cautiously went head to head to bring it onto the market and once Mr Dixon announced he was selling, the auction fired up.

After a dozen bids, the home sold to a young pregnant couple for $1,267,000.

Mr Dixon said the bidders took “some doing” to get enthused, but it was a good result.

“It was a great result for the sellers,” he said. “I had to get the gloves off and do a bit of work but once it was on the market there was a bit of interest there.”

The vendors renovated the home in 2009, and Mr Dixon said they made great use the land. 

“It’s a big family home, it suits a family growing up near great schools,” he said. “You do get sloping blocks in Toowong and they’ve done a great job.”