COAST HOT PROPERTY
City best in state for housing market growth
THE Gold Coast property market is set to defy a nationwide slump and continue to grow after the Commonwealth Games.
That’s the message from the Real Estate Institute of Queensland on the back of strong figures showing the Coast is the standout region.
The city’s housing market grew 7.7 per cent according to data which will be released today, putting the Gold Coast as the state’s best performer.
The annual median house price hit $615,000 last year, while unit prices grew 3.7 per cent to $425,000.
THE Gold Coast property market is set to defy a nationwide slump and continue to grow after the Commonwealth Games.
That’s the message from the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) on the back of strong figures showing the Coast is the standout region.
The city’s housing market grew 7.7 per cent according to data which will be released today, putting the Gold Coast as the state’s best performer.
The annual median house price hit $615,000 last year, while unit prices grew 3.7 per cent to $425,000. Brisbane house prices grew just 2.6 per cent.
And the growth is set to continue with the report saying the Coast’s rental market was “very strong” heading into the Games. The report cited forecasts of $13 billion of development in the coming years as a factor likely to increase the city’s desirability.
“The short-term outlook of the rental market in 2018 is very strong as the Commonwealth Games is expected to put upward pressure on rents,” the REIQ report said.
“We expect house prices in the Gold Coast will show an upward path in 2018, however, this growth will most likely be more moderate.”
REIQ’S John Newlands said the city’s market had been boosted by a growth of interstate investors.
“After the Games we will have the momentum behind and we will continue to be a standout,” he said.
“This is because affordability is great, people wanted to come here and the figures bear this out.
“We are seeing a lot of people looking at other markets and understanding they are not performing well while investing in the Gold Coast because they can perceive the long-term potential here.
“In the past 12 to 18 months we have seen the emergence of a market of interstate investors and this has helped the growth.”
According to the data the rental market is strong with vacancies tightening to 1.1 per cent in December, beating out both Sydney and Melbourne which recorded 2.2 per cent in the same period.
It is just the second time in the city’s history that its vacancy level has been this low.
Gold Coast Tourism chairman Paul Donovan said he did not expect the city to be hit by the highs and lows which it had experienced in decades past.
“I believe the Gold Coast economy has normalised over the past few years and we have the foundations which allow us to have growth which will hold us in good stead,” he said.
“In the post Games period we will have been marketed to 1.5 billion people and there is no question we will experience solid growth. There’s always going to be naysayers but I can see it will all be up.”