Snow birds keep us up

INTERSTATE migration will keep the Gold Coast property market afloat while other areas across the country, including Melbourne and Sydney, are in decline.

REIQ Gold Coast zone chairman Andrew Henderson said people would continue to move to the Glitter Strip as long as it was affordable and offered a good lifestyle, jobs and quality amenities.

“We’re still seeing reasonably good numbers of people moving to the Gold Coast,” he said. “Our strength in a lot of our sales is the owner-occupier side ... and it has been for a number of years now.

“We’re an attraction city at this point in time, I see that as a positive going forward.”

His comments followed the release of leading property valuation firm Herron Todd White’s February Month in Review report.

It showed property prices in many suburbs were easing, while the number of days on market were blowing out.

“Motivated sellers are being forced to meet the market if they wish to sell, which is resulting in a clear reduction in value, consequently affecting surrounding property values,” the report says.

The prestige market was tipped to “struggle” but the report pointed out multiple areas that continued to perform well.

It said there was a “healthy level of construction activity” between Mermaid Beach and Main Beach, while property values were expected to remain stable in Benowa and Ashmore.

Herron Todd White director Tod Gillespie said a combination of tighter lending criteria as a result of the banking royal commission, declining interstate markets and a federal election had a lot to do with the softening market.

“People are cautious,” he said. “Anecdotally, talking to various agents there’s definitely a lot less buyers.”

Mr Gillespie said it was “erratic” from suburb to suburb, with some performing well and others not.

Mr Henderson backed his comments, saying factors such as location and quality determined the level of demand.