Supply a problem in red-hot market
HOUSE hunters are storming the market in a desperate bid to snap up property that is in short supply across the Gold Coast.
Industry experts say the “ferocious” demand is pushing up prices and reducing the number of days properties spend on the market.
Real Estate Institute of Queensland Gold Coast zone chairman Andrew Henderson said the limited number of properties up for grabs meant people were reluctant to list their homes.
“They can’t find where they want to move to because the options aren’t there,” he said.
“Pretty well across the
GOLD Coast golden girl Liz Cantor resorted to dropping flyers in letterboxes to build her dream home.
The popular Channel 7 presenter and her husband Ryan Lysaught took the extraordinary step to find the perfect block to build their family house.
“I said to Ryan we need to be more proactive and drop letters in every home in the areas we like that looks like a potential knockdown house and see if we can get lucky,” Ms Cantor said.
“We dropped letters all through Palm Beach and Miami.”
Not long after they got a call from a homeowner in Miami.
“Ryan made an offer on
Coast there are a lack of properties for sale.
“We really need that momentum of stock to come on the market so we can get that cycle happening again.”
However, he said selling first gave vendors an advantage when it came to buying another property, especially if they had competition.
“Your best bargaining power is always being a cash buyer,” he said.
With no subject to sale or finance conditions, Mr Henderson said sellers were more likely to accept cash offers.
Both Mr Henderson and McGrath Palm Beach co-director Josh Willatt said pushing for a longer settlement period gave sellers more time the house before I had even seen the place which was a strange feeling,” she said.
“But we knew we were buying for the area rather than the home.”
The couple, who have two sons, Kit and Fin, had spent more than two years searching for a house after Ms Cantor sold her Miami duplex in 2017. They wanted it to be walking distance to the beach with at least four bedrooms.
“It was actually becoming a bit heartbreaking,” Ms Cantor said.
“You fall in love with a house enough to make an offer or get the thumbs up from the bank to bid at auction and you’ve mentally moved in and then it’s gone.”
It was at this point the pair decided it might be to find another property. Mr Willatt said that to alleviate people’s concerns over the lack of stock, he advised sellers to go to market and request 90day settlements.
“Then those owners have confidence that they can put cash offers on other properties to trump those other buyers that aren’t doing that.”
Mr Willatt said prospective buyers were “ferocious”, with dozens attending open homes and auctions.
He recently sold a Burleigh Waters property at 1/24 Wagtail Court for $696,000, $66,000 above the listing price.
“If owners have got a good property in a good location and have presented it well, they’re really reaping the rewards,” worth building. “I remember saying to Ryan ‘I’m no mathematician and I’m sure there must be a catch, but I’ve been looking at the Metricon new home prices and I actually think it would be cheaper to buy an old home, knock it down and build new’.”
The pair forked out $670,000 for their beachside block at Miami.
The existing house was bulldozed three months ago while construction started last month.
She said waiting for council approvals as well as paying both rent and a mortgage was the most stressful part about building.
But overall, she said it had been a positive experience so far.
“We have a fantastic site Mr Willatt said.
Kingfisher Realty founder Conal Martin said Burleigh Heads and Burleigh Waters were particularly popular.
A property in Acanthus Ave sold for $2.3 million while an almost 50-year-old house in Sandpiper Drive fetched $1.2 million despite both not being on the market.
“I’ve been in the property business in Burleigh since 2001 and I’ve never seen it this hungry,” Mr Martin said.
“On the back of last year’s Federal Election and three interest rate drops, the market has just gone bang.
“Better still, it has more sustainable growth than previous ‘booms’ as it is being driven by real money.” supervisor who gives us weekly updates,” she said.
“We are actually loving the whole process and I think it’s made us closer as a family.
The new two-storey house will have five bedrooms on the 405sq m block.
“The original model, the Kirra 31, was four bedrooms, but we customised the downstairs study into a guest room, as my parents visit from Noosa and we added a shower to our powder room downstairs with an external door so that when we get home from the beach I can walk the kids straight into the shower rather than having them go through the house.”
The house is due to be finished in May.