Home price drop not painting ‘full picture’
POTENTIALLY worrying numbers shown in CoreLogic’s September report for two Cairns suburbs do not paint the full picture, according to REIQ Cairns zone chairman Tom Quaid.
The report showed in the past 12 months the median prices of homes in Kamerunga and Bungalow dropped by 19.3 per cent and 14.9 per cent respectively – the two largest drops of all Cairns suburbs.
The median house price in Kamerunga, based on the 10 homes sold, was $378,000 in June this year. In June 2018 it was $468,000, which was also the peak median sale price for the suburb over the past 10 years.
In Bungalow, the median price dropped from $380,000 in 2018 to $323,250 in 2019 and 17 homes were sold in the past 12 months.
Mr Quaid said based on a number of factors, the data should not worry homeowners or provide unrealistic hopes for potential buyers.
“You probably can’t read into those numbers too much because both of those suburbs have relatively few properties that come onto the market at any one time,” Mr Quaid said.
“Bungalow is a predomi$600,000s. nantly commercial suburb where you do have some residential housing.
“There’s a real mix there with anything from little workers’ cottages for about $250,000 to beautiful 1940s style homes on Buchan St, which would be in the “It’s not necessarily that there’s been a drop in regards to everything, it’s more likely to be that the types of homes that have sold have been lesser homes than what we saw 12 months ago.”
Mr Quaid ruled out any significant influences that usually affect property prices and said the price drop was simply a result of low supply of new properties in suburbs that experience long holding periods.
He said current homeowners in these suburbs shouldn’t be deterred by these numbers as they may not necessarily impact the value of their home.
“I don’t think it’s the doom and gloom that it looks at first glance.
“It’s still a matter that you’ve got to make sure you’re presenting the home as well as you can. You’re marketing it to a wide range of people. It’s not quite that dramatic.”
Dave Pyne has been taking care of a Bungalow home and said one day he would consider purchasing his own property there.
“It’s a nice area, great neighbours and close to town,” Mr Pyne said.
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