Prestige Mermaid Beach home sales suggest a ‘levelling’ of prices: Ray White Surfers Paradise boss Andrew Bell

Beachfront house sales along Mermaid Beach have signalled to Ray White Surfers Paradise boss Andrew Bell that there's been a "levelling" of prestige prices.

Last month a $5.3 million sale on the Mermaid Beach beachfront was secured through Ray White agent Michael Willems with a Queensland buyer buying the six-bedroom house on 769 square metres. It last traded at $6 million in 2006.

It has 19 metres of beach frontage on Hedges Avenue.

Bell suggests the Gold Coast peaked in 2006, with prices dropping by sometimes around 50% for the top end and 20% for other stock since then.

It was among the 33 properties sold at two Ray White Gold Coast auctions last month.

"A Sydney or Melbourne market would be very happy with that type of clearance rate," Bell says, noting he had 51 auction listings.

The Commonwealth Games decision plus the recent interest rate direction were contributing to the slight shift in buyer activity, he says.

The shift started late last year, Bell told Property Observer.

"I am sensing there is a floor in the market," he says.

"Bargain hunters are evident, but they are more likely finding fair value than bargains."

The region has experienced many prices in freefall since shortly after the global financial crisis, which Bell describes as a "reality check.''

Bell told the Gold Coast Bulletin that although the market was well off boom-time highs, there was a new level of positively in the air.

"I think things like the interest rate decisions and the success in the Commonwealth Games bid have given people some confidence in the city.

"The past decade the market was dominated by local buyers who made money out of the property market,” he said.

"We are starting to see a more subdued buyer ... more conservative versus entrepreneurial buyer," he said.

The biggest volume of buyers to the Gold Coast currently were from Brisbane, then Victoria, NSW, Gold Coasters and then the overseas buyers.

Some 193 registered bidders sought the offerings at the two auctions.

Another Mermaid Beach sale was secured shortly after its recent McGrath auction with the Breakfree founder Tony Smith paying $7.3 million on Surf Street.

Its selling agent John Natoli said the discounting represented great buying opportunities – "probably the best I have seen in 19 years,” he told Fairfax Media.

Tony Smith was reported to have said he thought the property would have been worth more than $20 million during the boom.

The Gold Coast has also been bouyed by the reputed $12 million sale of an inland Sanctuary Cove waterfront house through Ray White.