AN international race car driver has just snapped up a $1.6 million property on Mount Panorama.
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Raine and Horne Bathurst director Grant Maskill-Dowton is finalising the sale of the 17-acre property at 489 Conrod Straight, which hit the market earlier this year after being held by the same family for nearly a century.
He confirmed that an Australian driver who now lives in the United States of America had purchased the property, with negotiations occurring after the property failed to sell at auction.
They have raced in the Bathurst 12 Hour and attend race meetings at Mount Panorama regularly, which motivated them to secure a slice of the Mount for themselves.
It is understood that the driver has no intention of developing the property for anything other than residential purposes.
"I believe they will do some renovations and modifications up there and create it basically as their Australian residence," Mr Maskill-Dowton said, explaining there is no intention to rent the property out either.
"... I think he'll have family stay there. He is originally from Australia, so he will have family and that reside there as well."
To have someone from overseas buy the property says a lot about the reputation of Mount Panorama and Bathurst as a whole.
It is also representative of a trend that has been emerging in Bathurst regarding higher-end properties.
"It's impressive that Bathurst is still attracting that sort of calibre of buyer," Mr Maskill-Dowton said.
"Mount Panorama has been a huge drawcard, but ... in the last month to six weeks I've seen more million dollar plus transactions happening in our area than I've ever seen in the 20 years I've done real estate.
"... You'd think [in the pandemic] people would be a bit more cautious, but I personally two weeks ago sold four properties for over $1 million in a week and I think that just goes to show, obviously Mount Panorama has attracted that demand, but Bathurst as a whole is attracting that sort of marketplace."
Importantly, Mr Maskill-Dowton said he had calculated that about 80 to 85 per cent of those properties were bought by local buyers.
The news that an international driver has purchased a $1.6 million property on the Mount might also prompt further sales on the Mount.
There are other properties currently for sale there, one of which shares a boundary with 489 Conrod Straight, and another that came on the market a year ago.
"I think it could accelerate that, definitely," Mr Maskill-Dowton said.