A local family living around the corner ended a six-month house hunt when they paid $1.94 million for a vacant 360-square-metre block in West End, setting a new price benchmark for a non-riverfront lot in the suburb.
The 48 Whynot Street parcel sits in one of West End’s most tightly held pockets, with elevated city and mountain views that drew buyers back to open inspections every Saturday until auction day.
The scaffold that sold the block
Selling agent Luke Croft of Ray White South Brisbane had a simple idea to solve the problem of selling vacant land: build a 10-metre scaffold so buyers could climb up and see exactly what they were getting.
“I suggested they put up the 10-metre scaffold so buyers could walk up the stairs and see what the views were like,” Croft said. “We don’t do open home inspections for vacant land, but we ended up doing one every Saturday for this one and people were physically going up to have a look. It made such a difference.”
The block is one of only a handful of vacant lots to come to market in West End over the past decade, and its rarity was not lost on the buyers. Croft had watched them at open homes for six months as they searched for a house to replace their unit, including a near-miss as underbidders on an existing home.
“They were recently the underbidders on a 20-year-old house. But then when this block became available, they saw the potential,” Croft said. “I think the views got them.”
A fierce auction for a rare block
Three of the five registered bidders made a play for the lot when bidding opened at $1.4 million. The price moved in $100,000 jumps through to $1.8 million before dropping to $25,000 and then $10,000 increments. At $1.925 million, it was called on the market. Two parties then traded $5,000 bids until the hammer fell at $1.94 million.
Croft sold the property to the vendors in late 2024 as part of a larger parcel for $3.2 million. The vendors relocated the existing Queenslander and subdivided before returning the vacant land to market, producing a result Croft described as a win for both parties in a challenging environment.
West End’s inner-city appeal
West End sits two kilometres from Brisbane’s CBD, within walking distance of Boundary Street’s restaurant strip, West Village, South Bank Parklands and South Brisbane’s performing arts precinct.
The suburb is also in the catchment for several of Brisbane’s most sought-after schools, drawing owner-occupier demand that has kept competition fierce for well-located land.
Vacant inner-city lots of this calibre rarely surface in the 4101 postcode, and the Whynot Street result reflects how strongly buyers respond when they do.
Published 1-July-2026
