Property prices soaring sky-high
THE Gold Coast and wider Queensland real estate market has had what can only be described as a record-breaking year.
It’s difficult to fathom the riches that Covid has brought the Sunshine State in terms of property price growth.
The real estate team reported on the weekend of the suburbs making homeowners more than $100,000 a year, with Palm Beach, Currumbin, Tallebudgera and Mermaid Beach growth off the scale.
I’m currently compiling a list of Queensland’s top 50 sales for 2021 (which you can read all about in the Bulletin this coming weekend). The list cuts off at $10m, and of those sales, more than half were inked on the Gold Coast. A further 50-odd sales came in between $5m and $10m.
These are staggering figures compared with 12 months ago when only 18 sales achieved or pushed past $10m.
The results seem to be giving sellers a new-found boost.
This past week a home resurfaced that has been on and off the market since 2019.
Its owner, Perth-based civil engineer Riccardo Rizzi, was originally asking $40m for the mega mansion at 26 Knightsbridge Pde East in Sovereign Islands, but failed to find any takers. In a push to get it sold, he put the estate up for auction – twice. The first time it passed in at $27m, the second at $34 m.
It’s now back on the market, but not at reduced price, as one might expect after such a long time, but rather the biggest price tag Queensland has seen.
He is asking for $50m for the mansion, throwing in a yacht and a Bentley to sweeten the deal, and citing the buoyant market as justification for the price uplift.
While we wait to see if the latest carrot can draw in a buyer for Riccardo, it’s worth pondering the flip side of all this property prosperity – the widening affordability gap.
The rapid rise in prices, while bringing what was an undervalued Gold Coast market in-line with its southern counterparts, has caught many Queenslanders off guard, including first-time buyers whose dream of homeownership continues to slip further out of reach.
Stagnant wage growth and rising inflation makes saving money a luxury for many.
Data from CoreLogic shows that there has been wide-scale declines in housing affordability, with the ratio of housing values to household incomes reaching a record high this year.
Urban Development Institute of Australia Queensland CEO Kirsty Chessher-Brown said action was needed.
“It is critical that local government areas offer a mix of housing options in line with changing demographics and housing needs, with a lack of choice in high growth areas restricting market entry and creating broader market paralysis.”
If action isn’t taken, the divide between the Rizzis and the rest of the population, and their ability to own a home, will continue to grow.