Happiness rising as sellers get higher prices than expected

QUEENSLAND has escaped the worst impacts of COVID-19 on the real estate market, with the pandemic having a smaller impact than the fallout from the Banking Royal Commission and the 2019 federal election, a new survey found.

Thirty-nine per cent of home sellers in Brisbane got a higher price than they expected at sale time, according to the latest price expectation report from real estate agent ratings site RateMyAgent.

The survey of more than 33,000 Australians, tracked sentiment in the Australian property market, as well as seller satisfaction for the first half of 2020.

Southeast Queensland was home to the majority of Queensland’s happiest home sellers – with nine of the top 10 happiest areas hailing from the region.

Brisbane and Moreton Bay led with the highest proportion of sellers who got higher prices than they expected (39 per cent), followed by Scenic Rim and Redland (38 per cent), Logan (35 per cent), Sunshine

Coast and Gold Coast (32 per cent), Fraser Coast (28 per cent), Lockyer Valley (27 per cent) and Ipswich (23 per cent).

RateMyAgent CEO and cofounder Mark Armstrong said vendor happiness in Queensland had bounced back during the COVID-19 second quarter.

He said the survey found that the banking royal commission and the election in 2019 had a significantly more negative impact on vendor happiness than COVID-19.

Mr Armstrong said Queensland’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic was playing out well for the property market here.