Property profits strong

Luxury home sales unaffected by pandemic

THE Gold Coast’s luxury property market has produced stunning gains for sellers even during the COVID19 pandemic.

Analysis by the Bulletin of 18 residential property sales that settled in May and sold for more than $1 million shows 72 per cent sold for a profit.

Profits ranged between 7.1 per cent all the way through to a staggering 73 per cent or $550,000 for a Currumbin Valley property.

In contrast, the losses were much more modest and ranged between 1.7 per cent and 6.8 per cent, which was for a luxury waterfront home in Biggera Waters.

The sales included in the analysis were for contracts signed on or after March 23, which is when the industry shutdown began.

Property sales between March and May were compared with previous sale prices going back as far as 2014.

REIQ Gold Coast zone chairman Andrew Henderson said the data indicated the strength of the owneroccupier market on the Gold Coast.

“That is a strong result given the sales happened during COVID-19,” Mr Henderson said. “It shows the resilience of the market.”

Mr Henderson said the gains also reflected the stock on the market.

“The amount of property left to purchase is some of the lowest I have ever seen,” he said. “There is not a lot of choice for people so that has gone a long way to hold those prices up.

“Also that sector (prestige property) is very much dominated by people buying as owner-occupiers. People need a roof over their heads and they view property as a long-term investment.”

The 18 sales come from a range of Gold Coast suburbs and feature both dry and waterfront blocks.

They include Biggera Waters, Sanctuary Cove, Hope Island, Southport, Arundel, Ashmore, Paradise Island, Tugun, Bonogin and Broadbeach Waters.

Not surprisingly, southern Gold Coast property showed the most gains.

A contract was signed for a three-bedroom home on Tugun’s Wagawn St on March 24 for $1.869 million, 57 per cent more than the $1.19 million the house achieved in 2014.

Others included a waterfront home on Paradise Island in Surfers Paradise that changed hands for $2.92 million.

The seller booked a 27 per cent gain over the previous 2016 purchase

$2.288 million.

The contract was signed on March 24 and the sale settled on May 8.

A report by property valuation firm Herron Todd White says the Gold Coast is yet to feel the full impact of COVID-19 on the property market.

“A recovery is a given. However, the length of the recovery and change in values is unknown and will depend upon how and when lockdown measures are eased and/or removed,” the report reads. price of