Hot market shows early cooling signs
THE words, “price reduction”, may as well have been a foreign language in real estate listings throughout last year’s record property boom on the Gold Coast.
But for the first time in 18 months, vendors are slowly starting to lower their expectations – and sky-high sale prices – in some of the city’s most desirable beachside markets.
A luxury three-bedroom apartment with stunning ocean views in trendy Palm Beach has just been discounted for the second time since it hit the market in January.
The owners of the stylish unit less than 100m from the beach at 405/10 Third Ave in the near-new Acqua building initially listed it for $2m with Tracy Tomars, of LJ Hooker.
It went down to offers over $1.8m, and then on Friday the price was shaved to $1.75m.
“They have dropped their price to meet the market,” Ms Tomars said.
“It’s a gorgeous apartment with views from every bedroom, beachside in a great location, and a boutique building.
“Last year, it would have been snapped up and we would have got a premium price around $2m then.
“I think the biggest change since Covid is that not only has the amount of interstate buyers reduced, but there isn’t that urgency since the borders reopened.”
There was another glimmer of hope, this time for buyers below the million-dollar mark, with $50,000 knocked off the asking price for a two-bedroom, top-floor unit across the highway at 13/2 Twenty Eighth Ave.
The investor unit, which has been on the market for more than one month came down to $595,000 – below the suburb median of $790,556 – and unsurprisingly sparked a new flurry of inquiry for listing agent, Tyler Wagstaffe, of JW Estate Agents. “We decided to knock it down to just under $600,000 and that has generated plenty of interest again,” he said.
“There’s more stock on the market and you can see days on market extended a little bit, so naturally there’s more opportunities for buyers.”
Searching realestate.com.au, there’s only a handful of units headlined with a reduced price. Of the eight that came up, three were already under offer – showing demand is there at the right price.
Still on the market for now, a two-bedroom Main Beach pad with huge windows capturing ocean views was discounted to $1.15m just before Easter in a bid to hook holidaying buyers.
Adam Hall, of the Gold Coast Mortgage Broker, said it was an early sign of a cooling market, with the upcoming election and interest rate rises among factors weighing on buyers’ minds.
“This is perhaps the first sign of the market cooling, but it’s a good sign if you are a first-home buyer, or any other homebuyer who has been really patiently waiting,” Mr Hall said.