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Penrith Panthers player Luke Garner has purchased a Pimpama property.
NRL Penrith Panthers recruit Luke Garner has scored an investment property on the Gold Coast, snapping up a renovated home in one of the city’s fastest growing markets without even setting foot inside.
The second-row forward, who joined the Panthers ahead of the 2023 season after five years with Wests Tigers, splashed $810,000 on the newly renovated Pimpama home after a long hunt for somewhere to park his earnings back in southeast Qld.
Garner, 27, was born in country NSW but attended Palm Beach-Currumbin State High School on the Gold Coast and played junior rugby league for the Bilambil Jets.
Luke Garner is tackled during a Wests Tigers v Newcastle Knights NRL match at Leichhardt Oval. Picture: Brett Costello
Marketing agent Nathan Simon, of All Properties Group, said the player purchased the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home “sight unseen”, placing an offer five days after the property was listed online.
Mr Simon said Garner had spent between 6 and 9 months house-hunting when he called the agent on the night the Fountain St home went live on realestate.com.au.
“He said, ‘this looks perfect’,” Mr Simon said.
“He bought this as a rental property after quite a lengthy search for the right property.”
Rental appraisal for the property was $740 a week.
The home has a plunge pool
It sold for above the listed price just days after hitting the market
Mr Simon said Garner didn’t want to risk missing out, with affordable homes in the area selling in under two weeks.
But once contracts were exchanged, the savvy player sent his mum through to give the new digs a final tick of approval — luckily, “she loved it”, the agent said.
Five other buyers had also made offers for the home, which had originally been listed with $795,000 asking price.
Garner attended Palm Beach-Currumbin High School, later leaving for Sydney and signing for Wests Tigers. Picture: NRL Photos
Mr Simon said Garner, “was attracted to the overall style of this home and the quality of the renovation”.
“Plus, the location offers great future growth, with a train station under construction, and the new Costco at Coomera will be just minutes away.”
Property records show the house on a 450sq m block last sold in 2015 for $250,000.
Located within the Pimpama Village Estate, the home had since been extensively renovated, with a plunge pool and undercover entertaining area as well as fenced front yard.
The dining area has built-in bench seating
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Features included a new kitchen with marble-look stone benchtops and a butler’s pantry, dining area with built-in bench seating, and two separate living spaces.
PropTrack data shows house prices in Pimpama were up 9.5 per cent over the past 12 months to a median of $680,000.
There are three bedrooms and two bathrooms
The new kitchen and butler’s pantry
“Pimpama is the best market I’m selling in right now,” Mr Simon said.
“I’m very rarely talking to investors who buy there just for the fact they have been on the Gold Coast themselves. People are buying in this area because of the growth.
“There are 9,000 dwellings in there now and more to come. It is located right between the Gold Coast and Brisbane so has really taken off as a very convenient location benefitting from new infrastructure like the Pimpama M1 exit, which is going through a multimillion facelift,” he said.