Gold Coast residents are pushing back against any future expansion in the north of the region after a councillor revealed rural parts of Gaven are among 14 locations labelled as “investigation areas” to absorb an extra 440,000 people by 2041. The announcement on social media by Councillor Peter Young received significant pushback with many residents opposing any plans for rural blocks to be split into smaller housing estate blocks of land. According to Young it is early days and the only commitment by the Gold Coast Council, at the moment, is to undertake a series of studies of the nominated areas. He says the studies are in response to the guidelines the Council has to follow in the Southeast Queensland Regional plan for future population growth. “It’s pretty grim but if we don’t plan, we definitely fail,” Cr Young said. “The (state government) has developed a strategic plan for SEQ and told us our ‘share’ is a further 440,000.”
Strong Demand For Brisbane
Strong demand is tipped to continue to drive the southeast Queensland property market with new analysis showing transaction numbers and median prices have increased across the board. The UDIA SEQ insights report says Brisbane’s affordability now sits in the lower end of the “balanced” range, meaning it is less affordable than at the same time last year. There were 20,196 houses sold in the past 12 months and days on market for Brisbane houses is now 14 days. Forest Lake chalked up the highest number of sales within Brisbane in the past quarter with 514 sales, followed by Bracken Ridge, 355 and The Gap, 333. The number of units selling increased during the quarter by 20.5% with 14,024 sold in the past 12 months. Land sales also continue to be strong with 756 blocks changing hands in the past year. Pallara has the highest number of sales with 53 lots selling, followed by Algester with 39 and Calamvale with 38
Quote of the Week
“There is a sense buyers and sellers need to get in now ahead of a rate rise.”
PropTrack director of economic research, Cameron Kusher
Housing Inquiry: Scrap Stamp Duty
State governments scrapping stamp duty in favour of a broad-based land tax is a key recommendation from an inquiry into housing affordability. The recommendations from the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue’s inquiry into housing affordability and supply in Australia, also call for a review of the taxes it says are holding back development of the build[1]to-rent sector. The inquiry’s final report blames poor planning processes for a drop in homeownership by Australians aged under 40. It suggests retaining negative gearing as well as allowing Australians to access their superannuation early to use as security for a home loan. “This recommendation will therefore remove the largest barrier for home buyers, being the deposit,” the report says. Recommendations also include the Federal Government rewarding state and local governments that speed up planning processes and Federal grants being tied to local and state provision of more housing supply
Auction Clearance Rates Soften
The hot auction market is finally starting to soften with a number of capital cities recording a drop in clearance rates. Since the start of the year the majority of capital cities achieved clearance rates in the high 70% to 80% range, but this week a number of results fell below 70%. Brisbane’s auction clearance rate was 69%, followed by Sydney 65% and Melbourne 65%. All three results were lower than the clearance rates recorded at this time last year. Domain head of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell says the results reflected a “normalisation” of the auction market. “This is showing that conditions for buyers are improving, and they have improved, while sellers are having to be more realistic,” Powell says. Once again it was the smaller capital cities which recorded the best auction results last week with Adelaide in the lead with a clearance rate of 83% followed by Canberra with a clearance rate of 76%
Rate Rise To Bring Mortgage Stress
Up to three quarters of homeowners are already facing financial stress which will be exacerbated by any future interest rate rise. Analysis by advocacy group Everybody’s Home, Digital Finance Analytics and the University of NSW shows despite built in buffers from lenders, a 1% interest rate rise will affect many homeowners. Everybody’s Home spokeswoman Kate Colvin says significant prices rises in the past year are contributing to the issue. She says prices are being pushed up by buyers fighting to get into the market and taking on big mortgages while interest rates are low. In New South Wales, the research shows some of the worst-hit areas for mortgage stress will be in the Macarthur, Chifley and Mitchell electorate areas as well as parts of southern Sydney and the Central Coast. In Victoria the electorates of Bruce and Caldwell are tipped for mortgage stress if interest rates rise by 1% and in Brisbane the electorate of Bowman in the city’s east will struggle
