Gold Coast Rents Hardest To Afford
Rents on the Gold Coast are among the most difficult to afford in Australia.
The latest National Shelter-SGS Economics and Planning Rental Affordability Index, which compares rents with incomes, shows every Gold Coast suburb is unaffordable.
The majority of Gold Coast suburbs were rated as “severely unaffordable” to rent which means more than 38% of household income is being spent on rent.
In comparison, only two locations in Brisbane were in the “severely unaffordable” category.
SGS Economics and Planning Principal, Ellen Witte, says the result is many renters have to live further away from where they work which puts pressure on local businesses that find it hard to secure employees.
“Governments must urgently address this worsening affordability crisis, including by building more homes and better regulating renting,” she says.
The most unaffordable location for renting on the Gold Coast is in the 4212 postcode which includes Helensvale and Hope Island. The report says renting there, costs 46% of the average household income.
Four in Five Suburbs Increased in Value
Property values increased in more than 80% of Australia’s house and unit suburbs in the past three months.
Analysis by CoreLogic shows 3714 house and unit suburbs have higher median values than three months ago with only 792 suburbs experiencing a drop.
House markets (83.1% had value increases) performed slightly better than unit markets (80.6%).
Perth had only one house market where values dropped, followed by Adelaide (3), Brisbane (4), Darwin (9), Hobart (18), Canberra (24), Sydney (48) and Melbourne (72).
In regional Australia, Queensland performed the best with values dropping in only 13% of house markets, followed by Western Australia (23%), New South Wales (25%), South Australia (37%), Victoria (59%), Tasmania (60%) and Northern Territory (83%).
CoreLogic Head of Research Eliza Owen says that data broadly reflects continued growth in the Australian housing market, despite high interest rates and weakening economic conditions.
“It’s often noted that Australia is not ‘one housing market’ and we’re currently seeing increased diversity in capital city market performance,” she says.
Where Buyer Demand Is The Highest
New data shows the suburbs where demand for property has increased the most in the past year.
PropTrack measured serious enquiries per online listings, such as emailing an enquiry, calling the agent or downloading documents, to determine the most in-demand locations.
Sydney and Brisbane dominate the list.
PropTrack senior economist Paul Ryan says potential buyers are focusing on locations that offer space or affordability or both.
“Affordability has been very stretched by higher interest rates, so people are altering what they’re looking for and searching for properties a little further out,” Ryan says.
As such many of the high-demand suburbs are on the fringes of capital cities.
The suburb with the most demand is Holgate on the NSW Central Coast, followed by Chandler in Brisbane.
In the ACT the most in-demand suburb for houses was Holt, in the NT it was Larrakeyah, Mylor in South Australia, Acton Park in Tasmania, Pakenham Upper in Victoria and Mirrabooka in Western Australia.
Regional House Prices Still Rising
While the price growth in regional Australia’s property markets slowed earlier this year, new analysis shows it is starting to catch up again.
Prices across the combined capital cities increased by 5.95% since December 2022, while at the same time, the combined regional centres increased by 2.43%.
PropTrack senior economist, Eleanor Creagh, says price growth had slowed in regional areas because of an increase in listings. Stock on market increased and demand eased, which led to price growth slowing.
The number of properties listed for sale had normalised now in parts of regional NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and the Northern Territory, according to Creagh.
It remains tight in regional Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.
Total listings in regional NSW increased by 4.4% in September to reach the highest level in three years, and listings in regional Victoria and Tasmania were 37.6% and 30.7% year-on-year respectively.
Despite this, the pace of price growth in regional markets increased in October by 0.32%.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
PropTrack senior economist Paul Ryan
“Affordability has been very stretched by higher interest rates, so people are altering what they’re looking for and searching for properties a little further out.”
