OPEN AND SHUT, AGAIN

With borders closed, it’s time for all of us to do our bit to help the region

TALK about not being able to keep up with the news cycle.

Last week I made the comment that we run the risk of being out-of-date within days. And what happens? Two days after writing that, a new announcement followed around this time last week, in which Queenslanders were waking up to renewed hard border closures with NSW and the ACT.

Echoing the sentiments of our Premier, it’s the latest necessary move in the fight to keep COVID-19 cases down across our state.

With tourism operators still cut off from international visitors and now our two largest internal tourism markets in NSW and Victoria, an already difficult year is only going to get harder for many in Cairns.

With the planned scale back of JobKeeper and other subsidies, that’s a double whammy for many businesses and staff. If ever there was a time for Cairns residents to do their part to support local – it’s now, for there are precious few others left to do it.

On the real estate front, we are still seeing strength in the market, with land certainly the standout attraction – that is, where you can still find it. Residential housing in the more affordable $300,000-$500,000 range is a fairly hot commodity. And the number of inspections are still solid, though this still relies on strong presentation and effective marketing – you can’t get away with just a sign out the front and a smile to sell homes anymore. You gotta do groundwork.

It appears the upper end of the Cairns market has seen improvement, too, though the focus remains on modern or updated homes. Buyers are willing to pay a premium for turnkey homes.

This compared with growing reluctance around properties requiring renovation or significant updating post-purchase. While the HomeBuilder grant to chip in $25,000 for renovations is an incentive, in practice there are few able to spend that kind of hard-earned cash ($150K) on a reno that will still fit under the income threshold during a pandemic recession.

While there was some concern earlier in the year about the sustainability of the rental market (where we saw a brief blip in vacancies), properties are once more renting swiftly for good money in most cases. The CBD continues to improve though it is still lagging a little. Investors are increasingly appearing on the scene but it’s owner-occupiers that are still the main drivers in this current market, making it that much more important to nail presentation and promotion to tug at potential buyers’ heartstrings while achieving a premium result.