Chinese buyer pays lucky number for Collins Street building
A Chinese investor has recently become very lucky by paying $8,888,888 for a prime building located on leafy Collins Street in Melbourne.
This is the first time an auction has taken place on Collins Street since 2009, where building No. 400 went up for sale and attracted a large crowd. This time, over 200 people gathered to watch the auction take place outside 415-417 Collins Street, which lasted for 45 minutes.
Chinese belief is that having an eight within a purchase price is considered extremely lucky and a symbol of prosperity and this buyer definitely hit the jackpot at this auction!
The opening bid began at $5 million and during the course of the auction there were 12 bidders and 51 bids. Towards the end, with a price at the $8 million mark, only two bidders were left, both Chinese investors, one local and one from Shanghai.
In the end, the Ry family from Shanghai province, who had been looking for a suitable investment for the last few years ended the auction when auctioneer Phillip Kingston announced the eight figure series.
The 750 square metre heritage listed building consists of three levels and fetched $2.5 million above the reserve price, with a yield of 2.2 per cent and a rate of almost $10,300 per square metre.
The original owners Phil Mehrtens, Ted Yencken and Wayne Judson from Probuild had paid just $2.28 million back in 1999.