BOOM TIMES ON WAY FOR CITY
WEW THINK THERE IS EXCITING TIMESTIME AHEAD FOR TOWNSVILLE SIMON PRESSLEY
ONE of the country’s top real estate market analysts says an increase in buyer activity in Townsville is pointing to property prices rising in the next 12 months.
Investment website Propertyology’s head of property market research and threetime Real Estate Institute of Australia Buyer’s Agent of the Year Simon Pressley is tipping Townsville’s real estate market will start trending upwards after years of downward price trends.
Mr Pressley said projects such as the stadium as well as improvement in the mining and agriculture industries would create thousands of local jobs and drive up demand for property.
“I think we’re probably already seeing an increase in buyer activity,” he said. “There was an oversupply of properties in Townsville but with the extra buyer activity, our numbers suggest that the surplus stock has been absorbed and consumer confidence is certainly on the rise.
“We think there is exciting times ahead for Townsville.”
Mr Pressley, who went to school in Townsville, said there was still negativity at a local level in the city but he expected that to improve.
“The economy up there has been poor for a long period of time and bashed in a few different ways and I think if you had the same ingredients in another location that hadn’t been bashed economically like Townsville has locals would be feeling a lot more optimistic,” he said.
“I don’t think the stadium can be underestimated either because it’s not just the jobs it’s going to create directly, but if you look at the Adelaide Oval redevelopment, Adelaide had a basket- case econ- omy for decades but building a modern stadium in a city that loves sport gives a reason for people to be optimistic.”
Townsville’s property market has gained national attention among analysts, who are tipping it could be the next boom area as capital city markets begin to slow.
Hotspotting website founder Terry Ryder has listed Townsville as both one of the top 10 places to invest in the country and one of Australia’s top 10 future growth areas.
His Winter Price Predictor index has forecast that property prices in Townsville are about to start steadily rising and described it as one of the nation’s “comeback markets”.
Ray White Townsville sales and marketing consultant Julie Munro said she was starting to see the tide turn with more buyers willing to make offers on properties.
“We’ve already got the hint of success and our buyers’ associates are finding it much easier to get buyers to reveal dollars and confidently make offers on properties than we have in some time and that’s probably a flow- on from some job security, government incentives for young people to get back to work and military transfers,” she said. “Even things like the expansion of Willows has helped provide a confidence boost to the suburbs.
“Our numbers have definitely steadily increased in recent times and we’ve had a lot more buyers to talk to after a weekend of open homes which is refreshing.”