WIND IN OUR SALES

Bright signs for market with buyers snapping up homes faster

CAIRNS homes are being snapped up at record speed with the tight supply tipped to push historically sluggish prices upward.

Corelogic’s quarterly Regional Market Update, released today, showed Cairns houses were selling four days faster on average while units were selling three days faster when compared to 12 months ago.

Average vendor discounting levels have fallen over the same period.

Real Estate Institute of Queensland Far North zone chairman Tom Quaid said lower sales volumes were impacting on sale rates and the lack of supply could increase average home prices.

If we saw sustained lower levels of stock, and there is nothing telling me we are going to see a lot more houses on the market in the near future, then we will start to see prices increase,” Mr Quaid said.

Cairns and Douglas also posted the highest unit rental yields in the state at 7.7 and 8.3 per cent, respectively.

Cairns house rental yields came in a 5.5 per cent, close to the state average.

Annual dwelling sales to February 2018 were 5402, three per cent lower than one year ago and three per cent below the five year average for the region.

Mr Quaid said the law of supply and demand will bring more homes on to the market.

“It hasn’t translated to prices jumping yet but property is selling quicker,” he said.

“I think there are still a lot of people who are waiting, whether that is they’re waiting to see more growth in Cairns, waiting for the budget coming out, or whether they don’t have something to upgrade to.

“Particularly in the unit market that is something we’ve seen a lot of difference in. When Cairns was booming and there were a lot of units going up, people had a next step and could upgrade. With no next step, they are holding on longer to properties.”

Mr Quaid said the Far North region’s high rental returns could be explained by a tight rental market and low purchase prices.

Cairns home values changed little over the year to March 2018, with the current median value for houses across the region increasing by just 1.2 per cent, while the median unit value fell by -1.2 per cent.

Sales activity fell -2.6 per cent over the year.