Sellers’ market as house prices jump
HOME owners who chose to cash in on rocketing Cairns property prices could bank almost $60,000 more than if they’d sold up just a year ago.
The median house price for Cairns local government area in March 2022 was $540,815 – up by $58,896 over 12 months, CoreLogic data reveals.
In Bayview Heights, the median house price rose by 10.7 per cent over 12 months and 4.6 per cent over the last quarter, to $514,949. That’s an extra $23,768 over the quarter.
In Caravonica, the median house price rose by $26,268 – or 4.8 per cent – over the quarter, to $547,267.
In the boom suburb of Redlynch, a 12.3 per cent annual increase was notched up, and a 4.2 per cent increase over the past quarter translates to a $27,090 median price rise, to $645,023.
At Trinity Beach, the median rose by a whopping 16.5 per cent over 12 months and 4.6 per cent over the last quarter – that’s an increase of $29,981 over three months, to a median of $651,773.
CoreLogic head of research Tim Lawless said the Cairns housing market had undergone a phenomenal turnaround.
“If you look at Cairns overall, it is up 13 per cent over 12 months and that is a pretty strong performance when typical price growth in previous years had been 2.7 per cent year on year, it has been flat or falling for the last 10 years,” he said. “The market has clearly turned around on quite a strong growth trajectory but affordability is more challenging as income is not rising, however, Cairns is still very affordable when you look at the median in the Cairns region, which is $444,000, compared with the Sunshine Coast, which is close to $1m.”
Mr Lawless said demand from interstate migration combined with housing supply levels being 30 to 40 per cent below a five year average meant that it was a sellers’ market, with not a lot of opportunities for vendors to negotiate.
Big price rises at places like Cardwell – which rose by 32.2 per cent to $406,150 – was because small towns tended to be more tightly-held, Mr Lawless said.
“There’s lifestyle appeal for coastal or tree changers and a these places are generally very affordable, all with a median below $500,000 with the exception of Craiglea and Peeramon,” he said.