Susie O’Neill’s family home has sold at auction.
EIGHT-time Olympic swimming champion Susie O’Neill sold her riverfront family home of 19 years at auction on Saturday for $3.055 million.
The two-level architect designed home at 401 Brisbane Corso, Yeronga was viewed by more than 200 people during its four-week auction campaign and is located on a street recently revealed by The Sunday Mail as one of Queensland’s top 5 power streets.
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Queensland’s Madame Butterfly bought the house for $1.3 million in 2001 with her husband, ophthalmologist Cliff Fairley, after she retired from competitive swimming following the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
Susie O’Neill during the 200m butterfly heat at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games at Homebush International Aquatic Centre.
Two local families took the five-bedroom, 875sq m property to auction, going toe-to-toe with only $5000 separating the bidders in a nailbiting finish.
“It was almost like an Olympic race to the end,” Ray White New Farm selling agent Christine Rudolph said.
Property professional Sam Kelso represented one family and stood close to the heated swimming pool with its counter-current swimming machine to make the opening bid of $2.5 million.
The Brisbane River from the property at 401 Brisbane Corso, Yeronga.
The second family was inside the Harry Poulos-designed home with its spacious entrance lined with indigenous art.
401 Brisbane Corso, Yeronga.
Ms O’Neill did not attend the auction, and was on the Gold Coast supporting her daughter who is a member of the state water polo team.
Olympic swimmer Susie O’Neill and Ray White New Farm estate agent Christine Rudolph outside 401 Brisbane Corso during the auction campaign.
“This has been a very emotional sale for me and that was one of the reasons I didn’t want to come to the auction,” Ms O’Neill said by phone afterwards.
The two bidders set a steady pace to get to $2.95 million, where the auction was paused for 20 minutes before it was announced on the market with a bid of $3 million from Mr Kelso.
Ray White New Farm agents chat with Mr Kelso at the auction of 401 Brisbane Corso, Yeronga.
“This is an owner-occupier home, someone is going to live here for the next 10-20 years so what’s $50,000-$100,000 more? It’s not really a big issue,” Mr Kelso said afterwards.
But after a powerful exchange between the two parties, it was the family standing inside the house who won with their final bid of $3,055,000.
“Cliff used to work for me once upon a time I used to swim next to Susie but she wouldn’t have noticed me that’s for sure,” the winning bidder, who did not wish to be identified, said.
“It being Susie’s house didn’t affect us much. We’ve had our eye on the area seriously for about six months.”
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