Beaches back on the radar
THE Cairns beaches suburbs have been revitalised as a real estate hotspot as buyers begin showing interest again after receiving political and financial surety.
Ray White Cairns Beaches principal Paul Stirling said throughout 2018 and early 2019 investors had “quietened” in his area but were showing a lot more interest post July.
He said they were attracted to newly built homes and beachfront apartments.
“We had adverse weather conditions, the uncertainty of the banking industry and we had the federal election,” Mr Stirling said.
“We also had uncertainty in the Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane markets where we source a large percentage of our investors into the region.
Mr Stirling said with those things behind us, buyers were showing confidence in the region after recent announcements of the Smithfield bypass project and a new high school at the James Cook University campus.
He said expansions at the Smithfield Shopping Centre and a growing industrial area meant residents were travelling to Cairns less and this was also attracting more buyers.
CoreLogic’s September report showed more than 600 houses sold in the Cairns beaches region in the past year.
While there was still some untouched land available north of the city, Mr Stirling said room for land and new houses was narrowing. He said it was unlikely there would be any development at the three southernmost beaches – Machans Beach, Holloways Beach and Yorkeys Knob.
“They are developed and that’s it,” he said. “There is very limited opportunity to expand in those three beaches.”
Further north, Mr Stirling said there were still land and house packages available in the Smithfield Village Estate, which spills into Trinity Park.
Kewarra Beach recorded the most house sales in the region with 128 sold in the past year. Mr Stirling said Kewarra Beach had the highest volume of new properties being built with opportunities to buy new homes still available at the popular Deep Creek Estate which was being developed by Kenfrost Homes.
He said there was also a smaller parcel of land in the suburb, near Etty St with about 32 lots available.
In Palm Cove there was the Argentea estate which was set to release a third stage in the near future – a 14-lot release. There were a total five proposed stages for this estate.
Mr Stirling said now was the time to buy in the Cairns beaches region as he expected house supply to only tighten in the future and prices to rise.
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