Surfers takes over as Coast’s most valuable
THE city’s tourism heart has dethroned Mermaid Beach from its top spot in the Gold Coast’s million-dollar club.
Surfers Paradise is now the Glitter Strip’s most expensive suburb for houses, latest realestate.com.au data shows.
Mermaid Beach has long held the title, with only a handful of suburbs coming close to it in recent years.
Its $1.46 million median house price, which is based on 45 sales in the past year, now trails Surfers Paradise’s $1.66 million median, based on 80 sales in the same period.
First National Surfers Paradise agent Russell Rollington said Surfers was back on buyers’ radar after a slow period.
“We’ve noticed a bit of a resurgence,” he said,
“You can walk to the beach from any house in Surfers and you can walk to the middle of town.
“The central location and the light rail have also assisted.
“It’s becoming more of a family environment.”
Demand for the limited number of houses on the market in Surfers Paradise had pushed prices up.
“There really aren’t many houses in Surfers and we’ve got a big list of buyers,” he said.
REIQ director John Newlands said a few high-end sales at Paradise Waters, the Isle of Capri and Chevron Island, which were all considered Surfers Paradise, had likely bumped the suburb’s median price up.
“When they measure that (data) they take in a very wide area,” he said.
“Predominantly, those are areas that are highly sought after with good waterfronts.”
He said buyers were more confident about spending the big bucks now the market had steadied.
Ray White Prestige agent Jackson Paradise said many buyers were cashed up and from interstate.
“We’ve definitely seen a lot more Sydney and Melbourne buyers move up here for a lifestyle change,” he said,
“We’ve received a huge spike in inquiries over the Christmas/new year period.”
Apartments in Surfers had also been performing well.
CoreLogic’s Best Of The Best 2019 report revealed Surfers Paradise recorded the highest value of unit sales in the country last year at $498,220,700.