Side issues a market drag
Joe makes a large-scale find
HIGH insurance premiums and a lack of job security in the Far North have been blamed for stunting the growth of home values in an otherwise favourable market.
The latest figures from NAB and CoreLogic RP Data show that, while Cairns home values improved by 1.2 per cent in the past year, the Far North trailed behind other major destinations such as the Gold Coast (5.6 per cent), the Sunshine Coast (4.5 per cent) and even Wide Bay (2 per cent).
Regions that experienced a depreciation of house prices included parts of the state still suffering from the decline of the mining boom with Mackay recording -7.3 per cent.
Herron Todd White research director Rick Carr said, while houses in Cairns were improving in value, sky high insurance premiums were increasing body corporate expenses for units and making them unfavourable options for buyers.
“The other side influence is that there is very little unit development going on and part of that is because the price of existing units is so cheap,” Mr Carr said. “Developers aren’t able to put new units on the market at a viable price.
“There is the demand, but it’s their inability to get development at a competitive price.”
Mr Carr said the other key factors limiting home value growth in Cairns was a lack of job security and the fact there was no sense of urgency for people to invest.
“The Far North employment market hasn’t improved as fast as we thought it would,” he said. “There is still a lack of job security ... people are in two minds whether to buy a house.
“There is no FOMO (fear of missing out) in Cairns ... people look at the market and say, ‘it doesn’t matter, I will still be able to buy a similarly priced house or unit next month’.”
Mr Carr said Cairns could expect continued increases in overall home values as long as the tourism industry continued to grow.
In the meantime, NAB senior economist James Glenn said the Brisbane property market had also underperformed relative to the other major eastern capital cities.
“Demand conditions appear to have steadied, but that will probably not be enough to counter the mounting risks on the supply side, meaning prices are likely to be flattish for some time,” Mr Glenn said.
editorial@cairnspost.com.au facebook.com/TheCairnsPost www.cairnspost.com.au twitter.com/TheCairnsPost
RESIDENTS of Reed Rd at Trinity Park had a slippery situation on their hands when a 4m-long python snaked its way up their street.
Resident Joe Abrams said his only concern when he spotted the snake about 6pm on Sunday was that it might have been run over by a car after he walked away.
“He was kind of close to the See amazing snake video at www.cairnspost.com.au road,” he said. “I’m not game to wrangle them or anything like that. I just like having a sticky beak and then letting them get on with life.”
He said the snake had been enjoying the last rays of sunshine as it worked on digesting the big lump in its stomach.
“I’m not sure what it was digesting. There are a lot of small wallabies around so maybe one of them,” he said.
“Hopefully it wasn’t anybody’s pet.”