The scarcity of land on the Sunshine Coast — and in particular at Aura — has led to a tiny strip of footpath being placed on the market with a $400,000-plus price tag.
The 129sqm lot on Leslie Crescent, Baringa, within Stockland’s master-planned estate, could be one of the smallest house blocks on the Sunshine Coast.
It was bought by the current owner in 2019 for $150,000.
Agent James Henley emphasised that the $400,000 price was only a “guide” and he was accepting all offers.
“As a real estate agent you don’t take evidence of a sale until it is sold and the asking price is a guide. It will come down to what it’s actually going to sell for,” he said.
The long rectangular block was designed for narrow townhouses similar to a few others on the street, including the house next door which it will likely abut with little space between the two.
But because the site is being leased by Stockland for a footpath through the park, the new owner will not be able to build until the agreement runs out in about a year, returning $15,000 a year.
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Mr Henley said the listing had caused a stir since it was placed online 24 hours earlier.
He said the block had come to market because of the extremely low availability of land in the popular development near Caloundra.
“If you go on realestate.com and type in land at Aura nothing comes up. The closest is Little Mountain,” said Mr Henley.
“There is very minimal land left.”
Already he has received a number of email enquiries from people requesting more information, as well as some phone interest.
House and land prices on the Sunshine Coast have been soaring and are expected to go even higher with the borders now open.
Major developers have revealed how they are inundated with hundreds of enquiries each week for the few dozen lots they can release as they are approved by the Sunshine Coast Council.
The land on Leslie Crescent is positioned at the end of a row, opposite a cafe and play area.
The advertisement describes it being only a 100m walk to the recently completed shopping precinct, a tavern and Baringa State School.
“Currently, a lease is in place over this land meaning, the new owner will get a healthy return during the planning stage of their brand new home,” the ad states.
Mr Henley said the person who owned the block had been sitting on it.
He said he could understand why the listing was shocking some people.
A link to the ad was posted by a member of the Residents of Aura Community Board who wrote that she thought the agent was taking the micky.
One resident joked: “I was thinking of chopping of part of my front lawn and selling it.”
Another said: “Seriously? But it’s a skinny little pathway. You’d need to build up about 3-4 storeys for a decent size house.”
Mr Henley said as a Sunshine Coast local he could understand people’s anxiety about the way property prices were trending.
“This boom has caused a lot of locals to get a bit upset at the values, especially first homebuyers who can’t afford $400,000 for land, and property prices have doubled,” he said.
“I get the annoyance of high values. But it’s not sold yet and if it sells for $400,000 then that’s another matter.”
