ONLY IN AUSTRALIA: PROPERTY PRICES ON THE RISE IN BRIBIE ISLAND THANKS TO PUB
Ellen Lutton, January 15, 2017

Photo: Jared Vethaak

Demand for property on Bribie Island is up and prices are rising – and it’s thanks to a pub.

The Sandstone Point Hotel, a $50 million development perched on 300 metres of unobstructed water frontage across the Pumicestone Passage to Bribie Island, opened 18 months ago.

Bribie Island, off the coast of Moreton Bay, is about a 45-minute drive north of Brisbane.

The hotel’s sheer size, popularity and music events which draw crowds of up to 12,000 mean it has become a driving force behind property sales on the island. Properties are now selling in a matter of weeks.

People who may not have necessarily thought of Bribie as a nice place to live or invest are sitting in the hotel, staring across the Passage at it thinking ‘wow’. They’re literally walking across the bridge to come and inquire about the cost of property here.

While two-bedroom units on the waterfront at Bribie are still available to buy for under $300,000, prices are rising. Records from the Domain Group show the median price in Woorim, a beachside suburb of Bribie, rose by 19.5 per cent in 2016.

The Sandstone Point Hotel, owned by the Comiskey Group, opened in June 2015. Sprawled atop a 35-hectare waterfront site, the hotel itself is 3000 square-metres and includes a kid’s playground with farmyard animals, multiple bars and dining spaces, Oyster Shed serving fish and chips down by the jetty and a 750 square-metre liquor barn.

Photo: Jared Vethaak

Since opening, it’s been named Australia’s Best Hotel (regional) and hosted several of massive events including the Beach Boys and Jimmy Barnes.

The large hotel crowds made a difference to the local property market after one year. They get anywhere between 7000 and 12,000 at a concert – if just two or three per cent of those people there like what they see at Bribie and decide to buy property here, that’s a huge influx of buyers.

There have been buyers from Sydney and Melbourne who’ve been at the hotel for a concert and ended up buying property here because of it. Buyers plan to rent out properties for holidays during the year, blocking off weekends for when they wanted to go to events at the hotel.

The pub has enabled people to reconnect with Bribie. Holiday rentals are going crazy as well. The hotel added a wow factor to Bribie that had previously been missing.

For a long time, Bribie has had a much older demographic, appealing to retired people and their families who came up for weekends and holidays.

_________________________________________________________________________

To help you find your own home in paradise & lead you through the process in obtaining it:

Paul Howard – 0408 068 770

For all your real estate needs sales, holiday & permanent property management services

_________________________________________________________________________