Easing spurs sales record Top month for real estate agency
A TOWNSVILLE real estate agency has made a record number of sales after COVID-19 restrictions were eased.
Buyers snapped up 21 properties through Keyes & Co Property last month, a record for a single month in the real estate agent’s nearly eight-year history.
May saw 325 inspections, over 200 more than April, which had 122 inspections when coronavirus restrictions were harsher.
Thirteen of those sales were mainly priced between $250,000 and $450,000 and buyers predominantly owner occupiers.
Keyes & Co Property director Damien Keyes said Townsville was “bouncing back” despite the market forced to a “grinding halt” by the pandemic.
“We’ve seen record low interest rates combined with median house prices that are affordable,” he said.
“The vacancy rate has been tightening and rents have slowly started to increase. It’s too hard to resist. Townsville is looking very, very attractive at the moment.” Mr Keyes said while staff had been working hard, the high numbers were a surprise coming off the back of restrictions and a weakened economy.
“As business owners it was an incredibly stressful time. We were doing all the work with no real certainty the buyers would be getting back to making offers,” he said.
“Not being able to do open homes, the future looked pretty uncertain … we kept maintaining our advertising presence throughout that time but it was when those relaxations came into place that buyers responded quickly.
“And in that volume it’s exciting, we hope that it continues throughout the back half of the year. It’s a good indication that we’re entering the recovery stage of the property cycle.”
Mr Keyes said Townsville as a regional city was better placed to respond to the challenges as Australia enters a recession for the first time in nearly 30 years.
“Absolutely we will be keeping an eye on it. I do think the regions are well positioned to respond better than our metropolitan counterparts,” he said.
“The combination of the affordability factor, when people are wanting quality of life, the regions become an attractive option.
“We sold a house to a buyer relocating from the ACT … the regions in these tough times present a good opportunity to come from a larger, more expensive market. This is a real opportunity for a place like Townsville to become that affordable option in those tough times.”