NRL player Josh Papali’i and wife Sepa have invested in Mermaid Beach
NRL prop Josh Papali’i has levelled up his property game, securing an investment in one of Qld’s most expensive markets.
With his team’s bid for grand final glory over for the season, Canberra Raiders star Papali’i has scored an off-field win as the new owner of a two-bedroom unit in Mermaid Beach on the Gold Coast.
In a show of confidence in his home state’s property market, Papali’i and his wife, Sepa, dropped $740,000 on the apartment, one of a block of three in the popular beachside suburb.
Papali’i is tackled during the NRL semi final match between the Parramatta Eels and the Canberra Raiders
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Papali’i grew up in the Logan suburb of Woodridge and has worn the Maroons jersey for every State of Origin series since 2013.
He engaged buyers agent Matt Srama — himself a former NRL Gold Coast Titans player — who negotiated with Matt Hughes, of Ray White, to secure the pre-market deal.
Mr Srama said the 405sq m unit block was located just 100m from the beach and prestigious Hedges Ave, known as Multimillionaire’s Row and home to some of the state’s most palatial oceanfront homes.
The unit is only 100m to Mermaid Beach
“The unit market here on the Gold Coast is very segmented. We tend to stick to very low-density units because the real value lies within the land, not the dwelling, so you can get some really good investments where you are controlling as much land as possible,” Mr Srama said.
Older-style blocks of less than ten units, located east of the Gold Coast Hwy, were performing well, he said.
“The unit we secured for Josh and Sepa was one of just three in a blue-chip site 100m to the beach, so essentially they own one-third of that land.
“I’d be mindful of the supply being built in the high-rise market, so we tend to not go near those higher density unit blocks because land is key,” he said.
It’s one of three in the block
With a sunny courtyard
The unit was sold tenanted, with rental appraisal of about $600 a week.
PropTrack’s Market Trends Report shows the median house price in Mermaid Beach was $2.8m in September, up 38 per cent over the last 12 months.
The air-conditioned apartment has two bedrooms with built-in wardrobes, one bathroom and a powder room.
It has a private courtyard and had been recently updated with new carpets and paint.
The unit last sold in 2015 for $400,000.
Dad-of-three Papali’i and wife, Sepa, sold their first family home, a three-bedroom house at Ngunnawal, ACT, for $591,000 in 2020.
