Everyone Wants To Live On GC
Interstate migrants chasing a coastal lifestyle now make up at least 7% of the Gold Coast population. Analysis of Census figures shows in the five years to 2021, nearly 50,000 people moved to the Gold Coast from New South Wales or Victoria. It is similar on the Sunshine Coast with about 6% of the population moving from NSW or Victoria in the past five years. On the Gold Coast, Coolangatta, which shares a border with New South Wales, was the most popular with 18.6% of its population coming from southern states. At Mermaid Beach-Broadbeach, 11.4% of the population was from Sydney or Melbourne, 10.4% in Currumbin-Tugun, 9.6% in Surfers Paradise and 8.3% in Burleigh Heads. Cronulla in Sydney was the top source of arrivals to the Gold Coast. Social researcher Mark McCrindle says COVID-induced flexible working arrangements have resulted in a big push for interstate migration. “A move to Queensland while keeping a southern city job is now much more viable,” he says.
Brisbane Prices Hit Record High
Queensland property prices are rising with a number of suburbs now achieving median house prices of $2 million or more. There are now seven suburbs with $2million plus medians, led by Surfers Paradise with its median up 17% in the past 12 months to $2.42 million. Domain’s latest House Price Report for the June quarter shows Hamilton and New Farm in Brisbane both have medians of $2.3 million, following annual growth of 4.5% and 2.7%. Ascot, where the median dropped 0.8% in the past 12 months has a median house price of $2.17 million, while on the Sunshine Coast the Noosa Heads median house price is up 10% to $2,225,000, and Broadbeach Waters on the Gold Coast is up 10% to $2,005,000. Sunshine Beach has the highest median house price in Queensland of $3.25 million. There are also a lot of suburbs with median house prices between $1.5 million and $2 million, although not as many as in Sydney and Melbourne.
Quote Of The Week
“Not only has the housing market avoided the price falls of the magnitude that many expected, but this year is actually shaping up to end with above average annual growth in Brisbane, despite interest rates being substantially higher as they continued to rise predominantly in the first half of this year.”
PropTrack senior economist Eleanor Creagh
Home Values Keep Rising
Australian property prices continue to rise with new figures showing they have increased for the eighth consecutive month. The latest CoreLogic national Home Value Index shows property values increased by 0.8% rise in September. The increase means Australian property values have gone up by 2.2% in the past quarter. It was the smaller capital cities that performed well during the past month, with Adelaide up 1.7%, Brisbane and Perth, both up 1.3%. Sydney was up by 1%, Melbourne, 0.4%, Canberra, 0.2% and Darwin, 0.1%. Hobart is the only capital city to record a drop in September with its values down by 0.6%. CoreLogic research director, Tim Lawless, says it is a lack of supply driving property price growth. “The three capitals recording the highest capital gain each have advertised supply levels that are around 40% below their previous five-year average,” he says. While prices are on the way up, Lawless says home values remain 1.3% below record highs recorded in April last year.
Unit Shortage Looms
The Property Council of Australia is warning of a chronic looming shortage in Australia’s unit market. The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics building approvals data shows in July, 4490 units were approved for construction. This is 20% less than in the previous month and about 40% below the decade average. In the past decade, units accounted for about 41.7% of completions although this dropped to 37.1% in the March quarter. Nationally the capital city’s median unit price is about 30% cheaper than that of houses, making them a more affordable option for buyers, although supply remains tight. While many unit developments are proposed, high construction and labour costs mean many are being delayed. According to the latest CoreLogic Hedonic Index, Sydney has the highest median unit value of $828,900. Next is Melbourne, $612,590, followed by Canberra, $591,950 and Brisbane, $529,160. Adelaide has a median unit value of $464,400, Perth $437,880, Hobart, $520,460 and Darwin, $382,100.
Auction Market Performing Well
Auction clearance rates remained high last week despite the distraction of two football grand finals and long weekends in some states. There were 1215 properties taken to auction last weekend. The preliminary clearance rate was 70.3%, down from 72% the previous week, according to CoreLogic figures. Adelaide’s preliminary clearance rate was 79.3%, Sydney 71.7%, Brisbane, 70.7%, Melbourne, 66% and Canberra, 62.5%. Louis Christopher of SQM Research expects the market to bounce back further next weekend. He says housing prices are rising and although it is becoming more balanced it is still tipped in the favour of sellers. “It’s not a robust recovery. There is still some caution out there, but there is still some aggressive bidding as well on certain properties,” he says. “And then there are sellers who are not selling at all because they haven’t got the pricing right. This would not be a market where you get too aggressive on your asking price.”
