Price dip opens doors

PROPERTY price falls are offering house hunters the chance to buy into suburbs they may have not been able to afford 12 months ago.

Ten Gold Coast suburbs have had median house price drops of 4.3 per cent or more, allowing buyers to bag bargains.

Latest CoreLogic figures show Wongawallan’s median house price has dropped the most, declining 16.2 per cent or $160,000 to $830,000.

The median in Mermaid Beach, the Glitter Strip’s priciest suburb, also recorded a big fall of $175,000.

Ray White Surfers Paradise CEO Andrew Bell said the price falls had created opportunities for buyers to drop from

— 11.3 per cent drop from

from from — 16.2 per cent

— 11.2 per cent drop — 8.3 per cent drop — 6.5 per cent drop from break into certain areas, but said they must act fast.

“There’s a shifting wave of buyer demand and that explains why one area will jump in value whilst other areas don’t seem to see the same price growth,” he said.

“That’s also a factor when a market is going through a drop from

— 4.8 per cent drop from $830,000 to $790,000 — 4.8 per cent drop from from from — 5.2 per cent

— 4.8 per cent drop — 4.3 per cent drop price correction. You will see some suburbs give up more than others. Those that had some price correction will likely get more attention from buyers because they look like good value so people need to move quickly.”

Mr Bell said in an area like Wongawallan the decline may be due to the higher-end homes not selling, but said there was still a lot of activity with the lower-priced stock.

“It’s not unusual in a price correction mode for the top end to almost stop altogether but the activity continue at the lower end, which can have a big impact on the median price.”

Real Estate Institute of Queensland Gold Coast chairman John Newlands said the price drops were in part due to buyers and sellers fence-sitting.

“A lot of people have been waiting and watching … because they were not sure what the market was doing,” he said. “But they have now seen that our market has performed quite well, we haven’t really had the same losses as other cities.”

Mr Newlands said buyers could take advantage of the current market conditions by having their finance in place.

“If they get their financial situation in place that would go well with a lot of sellers who might give it to them at a reduced price knowing they will definitely get the sale,” he said.

Median house price falls had happened to suburbs across Australia, CoreLogic head of research Cameron Kusher said this week.

“Late in 2017 dwelling values started to fall, with the declines most pronounced across higher value housing stock,” he said.

“Despite the recent fall in values across most cities, at a suburb level values typically remain higher than they were five years ago.” DOZENS of Gold Coasters took to Cavill Ave yesterday evening to protest the persecution of Falun Gong followers in China.

This year marks 20 years of forced organ harvesting, which targets those following the spiritual practice as they lead particularly healthy lifestyles.

Organiser Nina Smythe of the Queensland Branch of the Australian Falun Dafa Association said “the persecution and forced organ harvesting of Falun Gong is a human rights tragedy that has continued unabated for far too long.

“It saddens us deeply to be marking 20 years of senseless torture and killing of innocent people for their belief.”

A recent China Tribunal chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice QC found that “forced organ harvesting has been committed for years throughout China... and Falun Gong practitioners have been one – and probably the main – source of organ supply”.