Housing boom cooling

MEDIAN house prices in over 100 Queensland suburbs have dropped since their peak during the pandemic property boom, in what is the first tangible sign that the red hot real estate market might be going from blast furnace to balmy.

New data from REA Group shows 113 suburbs – from acreage and family suburbs to beachside locales – have recorded a fall in median house prices since reaching their peak, which represents 15 per cent of the state’s 755 suburbs.

But the data shows that just 3 per cent of those same suburbs also recorded a decrease in their median values over 12 months, with the extraordinary price growth absorbing value drops in most locations.

REA Group executive manager of economic research Cameron Kusher said price growth in Queensland was slowing. “I wouldn’t say the boom is over (for Queensland) but that peak has probably passed,” he said.

In Freshwater, the peak median price was $684,500 and is now down to $638,500.

In Malanda, the peak median was $345,000 and is now $330,000, down 4.35 per cent since its peak.