property Archives - Kenmore News

Olympic-Sized Pool and $7M in Renovations: Fig Tree Pocket Riverfront Estate Hits the Market

A remarkable Fig Tree Pocket riverfront estate is testing Brisbane’s prestige property market, with the seven-bedroom Mediterranean-inspired home at 12 Aminga Street expected to attract close to $20 million — a figure that would set a new suburb record.

Known as Casaminga, the property spans 9,561 square metres and boasts 79 metres of frontage along the Brisbane River, sitting just nine kilometres from the CBD. The home is being offered via expressions of interest through McGrath agent Alex Jordan, who has described it as the finest property he has encountered across nearly three decades in real estate.

Beyond its sweeping river views and expansive grounds, Casaminga carries a slice of Australian sporting history. Its 25-metre pool served as a private training venue for freestyle swimmer Ariarne Titmus during the COVID-19 lockdown period, when public pools were closed. Titmus went on to claim gold at the Tokyo Olympics. Jordan noted that a 25-metre pool is a rare find in any private residence, making it a practical facility for serious athletes at the time.

The estate’s current owners are understood to have invested more than $7 million in improvements to the property, both indoors and out. Wellness and lifestyle amenities include an infrared sauna, hot and cold baths, a bespoke gym, a pool house, and resort-style pool. Outdoors, the grounds feature a tennis court with a courtside lounge, a pétanque court set among edible gardens, a playground, a soccer field, and a treehouse — along with a pontoon capable of accommodating large vessels.

Interiors have been fully reimagined, with a gourmet kitchen fitted with solid timber cabinetry and Sub-Zero and Wolf appliances. Light-filled living spaces offer river views from multiple aspects, with the design connecting indoors to the surrounding gardens and waterway.

Fig Tree Pocket has long attracted prominent residents. Mining magnate Clive Palmer owns a riverfront estate nearby on Needham Street, while technology entrepreneur Bevan Slattery and hospitality identity John Gambaro are among others who have been drawn to the suburb’s quiet, leafy character. Jordan described the neighbourhood as among the most prestigious pockets in Brisbane, with neighbouring properties on generous blocks and finished to an equally high standard.

Early interest in Casaminga has already come from interstate and overseas buyers. The property is expected to appeal to families seeking a resort-style private retreat, as well as boating enthusiasts with access to the river via the substantial pontoon.

If the home achieves its anticipated price, it would represent a landmark sale for a suburb that has quietly cemented its place among Brisbane’s most sought-after residential addresses.

Published 21-April-2026

Architect-Designed Kenmore Property Sets Non-Riverfront Suburb Record at $4.101 Million

Domain

A sprawling single-level family home at 45 Scenic Road in Kenmore sold under the hammer for $4.101 million on the weekend, setting a new record as the highest price ever achieved for a non-riverfront property in the suburb and ranking as Kenmore’s third-highest sale of all time.

The result landed as the top sale across south-east Queensland for the weekend, drawing a crowd of around 200 onlookers and six registered buyers, though only two local families actively competed at the auction. The underbidder, a young family, opened proceedings at $3.65 million before a series of $50,000 and then $25,000 bids pushed the price to $4 million. Smaller increments followed until the hammer fell above the undisclosed reserve.

A Home Built by a Family of Serial Builders

The Scenic Road property is the latest project from a family with an unusually deep relationship with residential design and construction. A practising architect within the family designed the Kenmore home, marking the sixth or seventh residence the family has designed and built for their own use. The decision to sell now comes with a characteristically ambitious reason: the owners’ daughter has recently graduated as an architect, and the family plans to design and build their next home together as a combined creative project.

Built in 2023 in collaboration with Giova Fellows Quod Architecture, the home sits on a 2,023-square-metre block and delivers 798 square metres of single-level living. The design incorporates landscaped gardens, a pavilion, sun terraces, a pool and a billiards and cinema room. Buyers rarely find single-level homes of this scale on sites of this size in Kenmore and across Brisbane’s western suburbs, where developers typically deliver large homes across multiple storeys.

Flood-Free Position Underpins Premium Result

The property’s flood-free status played a meaningful role in its appeal. Kenmore sits in a catchment where flooding is a genuine concern for sections of the suburb, particularly in pockets closer to the Brisbane River and Moggill Creek. Buyers seeking large-block, architect-quality homes in the western suburbs often face a trade-off between size and flood risk, and 45 Scenic Road sits outside that compromise entirely.

Co-selling agent Jason Scott of McGrath Paddington noted the home’s scale, design quality and flood-free position as the key drivers of buyer interest, describing the combination of a recently built, single-level home of this size as genuinely rare in the current market. The result, he said, showed that high-quality properties without compromises continued to attract strong demand even as conditions became more variable. One registered bidder withdrew before the auction after deciding against bidding unconditionally, citing exposure to recent sharp falls in global share markets.

A Patchy Market Around a Standout Result

The Kenmore sale stood out against a broader auction market showing early signs of caution. Across south-east Queensland, 168 auctions were scheduled for the weekend. Domain recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 51 per cent from 113 reported results, with 22 homes withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions count as unsold in clearance rate calculations, placing the effective rate lower than the headline figure suggests.

LJ Hooker head of research and economics Matthew Tiller described Brisbane’s weekend results as resilient overall but noted a noticeable softening in buyer and bidder confidence at individual auctions, driven by the recent interest rate movement and pressure on household budgets. Tight listing supply continues to support prices across Brisbane, with sellers offering far fewer properties than buyers need to shift the market balance across most price brackets.

Strong Demand for Exceptional Homes

In a suburb where the median house price sits around $1.4 million and most homes date from the 1970s to 1990s, the market delivered a notable milestone when a non-riverfront property sold for $4.101 million at auction. It confirms that premium, architect-designed properties in flood-safe pockets of Kenmore now command prices well above anything previously achieved outside the riverside precinct, and signals the depth of demand available for genuinely exceptional product.

Kenmore remains one of Brisbane’s most consistently owner-occupied western suburbs, with high rates of long-term family ownership, strong school catchments across both state and private options, and proximity to the CBD via Moggill Road and the Legacy Way tunnel. For buyers seeking large-block, quality-built homes within a reasonable commute of the city, it continues to attract serious competition when the right property comes to market.

For information on current listings in Kenmore, contact McGrath Paddington through mcgrath.com.au.

Published 27-March-2026.

Clive Palmer Expands Footprint in Fig Tree Pocket

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Jwmcdonald81

Mining magnate Clive Palmer has significantly expanded his presence in Fig Tree Pocket. The 70-year-old businessman has amassed a sprawling compound now estimated to be worth up to $60 million.

Palmer’s property holdings in Fig Tree Pocket now stretch across nearly half a kilometre of Brisbane River frontage. Since the pandemic began, he has tripled his footprint in the area, now owning seven titles that collectively form one of the largest private landholdings in the suburb.

**Clive Palmer started his spree with this Fig Tree Pocket home in 2018.**
Photo Credit: Ray White New Farm

The foundation of Palmer’s Fig Tree Pocket estate is the former property of Peter Bond, which he acquired in 2018 for $7.5 million, a significant discount from its original $12 million listing price. This 1.26-hectare property marked the beginning of Palmer’s expansion in the area.

**Mr. Palmer purchased a neighbouring property in 2020.**
Photo Credit: Facebook / Jason Adcock-Adcock Prestige

In 2020, Palmer acquired two neighbouring properties, each priced at $5 million. These acquisitions, made through his company Closeridge and in his own name, secured him control of the left side of the street leading to the Brisbane River.

The extensive river frontage of Palmer’s compound provides him with the unique opportunity to anchor his superyacht, “Australia,” adjacent to his residence.

Among Palmer’s neighbours in Fig Tree Pocket are his son Michael, who owns a nearby property, and Queensland tech entrepreneur Bevan Slattery, founder of NextDC and Megaport, who resides next door on the riverfront.

This significant investment in Fig Tree Pocket real estate comes as Palmer awaits a decision from an international court regarding its jurisdiction to hear his case against the Commonwealth.

Published 24-September-2024