Buyers looking further north
Kleinton, Meringandan West hot spots as Highfields dries up
Driving 20 minutes into town is not the same hurdle as it once was. David Snow
A LEADING Toowoomba real estate agent has tipped Kleinton and Meringandan West to become Toowoomba’s next property hotspots.
With housing in Highfields virtually exhausted, Real Estate Institute of Queensland Toowoomba zone chair David Snow said the localities just north were next in line.
“Over recent years, people have been looking further out of town. Driving 20 minutes into town is not the same hurdle as it once was,” he said.
“Highfields is just about full, but Meringandan West and Kleinton are the next ones.”
Across the Toowoomba council region 382 houses were sold in the December quarter with a median sales price of $355,000.
There were 77 acreage properties sold with a median price of $507,750.
With 63 home units sold for a median price of $290,000 over the quarter, there was no great difference in price from three months before and a year before. However there was a 23% gain in the annual median to $307,450 compared with five years ago when it was $250,000.
Mr Snow said the Second Range Crossing had the potential to open up Toowoomba’s northside to more development.
Mr Snow said he expected growth areas to also include Glenvale and Westbrook on Toowoomba’s south.
He said the areas were increasingly popular with people buying newly built homes. Mr Snow said a lot of land was available at affordable prices that made the suburbs popular with first home buyers.
But in 2017 established suburbs were the ones that grew in price. New REIQ sales figures for the 2016 December quarter revealed Middle Ridge and Kearneys Spring experienced some of the region’s strongest median house prices growth.
Middle Ridge’s median prices increased 8.8% year-on-year, and Kearneys Spring increased 4.5%
Mr Snow said both southside suburbs were well established with close links to the city – but their popularity was driven by different things.
“Middle Ridge is a relatively new suburb and has some very well regarded private and public schools,” he said.
“More and more people are looking at houses based on school catchments, and Middle Ridge and Gabbinbar State Schools are very popular.
“Kearneys Spring has a lot of similarities to Middle Ridge but it comes back to affordability.”