WE’LL GLOW AFTER GAMES
BACK in October Gold Coast Tourism chairman Paul Donovan was working himself up into a right old flap.
Speaking a day before the Gold Coast Bulletin’s hugely successful Going for Gold Legacy Symposium Mr Donovan was musing on all the talk of expectations of a postGames slump.
The orthodox view of many was the city would suffer a post-Games hangover of visitors, of property prices – but it was not a viewed shared one iota by Mr Donovan.
“I’m not sitting here at the airport saying ‘Heck, there are going to be no passengers here after the Games’,” he fumed.
“It defies logic to think we’ve spent all that money to get the Commonwealth Games, and now we’ve got them that after the Games things would go down.
“This city is in great shape right now and we are poised to take advantage.”
It seems he may well be right.
New figures out today and on page three this morning suggest the Gold Coast is leading the state for property price growth.
On top of that, it is forecast to continue growing and stay ahead of the pack postGames.
The city’s housing market grew 7.7 per cent in the past year according to data that ranks 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.
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.
It is a wonder Mr Donovan’s glowing forecast has not been the widely-accepted view.
If grey, industrial cities such as Manchester and Glasgow can shine and boost their stocks after hosting Games as they both did (and Glasgow in particular earned renown for how wonderful its residents were), then imagine just how much of a fillip is coming the Gold Coast’s way.
The place already has sensational natural advantages which both of the aforementioned lack and is tailor-made to shine on TV to the Commonwealth Games’ anticipated global audience of 1.5 billion.
Yes, we are talking about the worldclass beaches, the Hinterland, the impressive coastal skyline — particularly Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach with their array of towers which offer some unparalleled beachfront living.
The major problem the Gold Coast has — and it’s important to remember the already busy city’s population is tipped to double to 1.2 million by 2050 — is keeping the place moving.
As Mr Donovan’s offsider and departing Gold Coast Tourism CEO Martin Winter noted as he announced he was stepping down recently, the M1 congestion has to be top of the list for problems needing solved.
It’s going to prove a major impediment to drive market visitation. Sort that and the sky is the limit for this part of the world.
And you do have to feel a little sorry for Birmingham which has to follow the Gold Coast’s lead in four years time.