PROPERTY FRINGE FLOURISHES

29 Buna Avenue, Mundingburra, IT’S tough going for Townsville’s property market despite having cashed in on more than $ 258 million worth of property sales in the past six months.

Exclusive figures show a total of 1429 real estate transactions were recorded by Core Logic between January 1 and June 30, 2017 – 403 fewer than recorded during the same sales period last year.

Houses accounted for 75.6 per cent of all sales, with the largest number of transactions recorded in postcode area 4814, which encompasses a large number of fringe- city suburbs including Aitkenvale, Annandale, Cranbrook, Garbutt, Douglas and Mount Louisa.

Sales agent Anthony Dare from About Town Real Estate said the result matched market predictions made earlier this year.

“I am not surprised that 4814 has performed well over this first half of the calendar year,” he said.

“The city fringe addresses have e exhibited exceptional buying across a broad spectrum on offer from the traditional three bed and one bath through to the bigger offerings.

“These results certainly indicate what the market expects in regards to value, well- founded homes in good locations, proximity to The Strand and major employers being the key.” Bargain properties proved to be the most popular in the first two sales quarter of the year with 833 properties sold under $ 350,000.

A total of 444 properties sold between $ 350,000 and $ 800,000 and seven properties sold over $ 1 million, according to Core Logic.

Postcode 4819, which encompasses Magnetic Island, was the only region to report a jump in property sales with 35 transactions recorded, compared to only 17 sales between January and June 2016.

Real Estate Institute of Queensland zone chair Damien Keyes said while buyer positivity was on the up, sellers were undoubtedly holding back as they waited for the market to improve.

“The market is definitely intense and available housing stock is tight,” he said.

“The fact the market is down by 20 per cent, that’s pretty serious, and the next six months as we go into our transfer cycle is going to be critical in terms of transactions and getting our numbers back up.

“The main issue I see is that a lot of home property owners are holding back so we see a lack of quality housing stock, yet the buyers are out there, waiting and willing to buy.

“What we need is for actual projects to commence as that will be the key factor for the market to shift in a more positive direction.”