LEAP OF FAITH: A former church at 24 Ashton Street, Wynnum, was listed for sale for more than $1 million.
Source: The Courier-Mail
THEY are the holiest of sites on the market and agents are just praying they can sell them.
Queensland is in the midst of a church sell-off on Christmas Eve with almost a dozen chapels seeking divine intervention from devout new owners.
Religious groups have been selling their prized assets to a host of interested buyers for years now and more are expected to hit the market in the next 12-18 months.
But those volumes might depend on whether the latest stock of pious properties are sold.
The current crop ranges from charming rural wooden chapels in towns such as Bowen and Lowood, to old brick structures in the suburbs of Brisbane.
Some have already been converted into lavish homes, such as the impressive old church in Ashton St, Wynnum listed by LJ Hooker for $1 million-plus.
The property is an old Uniting Church from Toowoomba that was turned into a stunning four-bedroom residence in the 1990s. It still has the original facade, altars, candle racks and windows, but the current owners are looking to pass it on to the next lot of worshippers.
Place Estate Agents have listed another converted church at Manning St, South Brisbane.
This striking building is now an office and showroom space, but still has all the original high cathedral ceilings, leadlight windows and polished timber floors. Listing agent James Hume said he had had more inquiries than almost the rest of his portfolio.
“I just unfortunately can’t get the price expectation of the vendor and the specific buyer to match up,” he said.
“But I’ve had interest from residential (buyers), yoga instructors, restaurateurs, fitness and wellbeing groups and finance brokers.
“I’ve had an electrical engineering company and religious groups interested – you name it, I’ve had them.”
Some churches have already sold recently despite dire real estate conditions.
In October, a restored timber church built in 1918 located in Imbil (near Kenilworth) was sold for $270,000.
Last month, Andrew and Dorothy Lear bought a heritage-listed church on 1012sq m of land at Vine St, Clayfield. They hope to rezone it as residential and turn the property into a house they can live in next year with their children Kodey and Sebastian. “One of our concerns is to see if we can make it like a home,” Mr Lear said. “But there is not a lot to really change. We probably want to put in a kitchen and dining room.”
Church sales in previous years have been high in areas near Ipswich and Toowoomba.
Gatton-based valuer Graheme Kroll specialises in church sales and said they were usually sold to city dwellers looking for a bush retreat.
“They pay anything from $20,000 through to $100,000 or better – it depends on what it is and where it is,” Mr Kroll said. “Most of them are only on a quarter acre and they end up being used as a nice little getaway.”