Spring-loaded market
IT is not just the temperature that is heating up, with local agents tipping a strong spring selling season right across North Queensland.
There are now 23 suburbs across Townsville, the Burdekin and Charters Towers regions that have recorded double-digit price growth in the 12 months to August.
Leading the pack is Charters Towers, where house prices soared 88.9 per cent to $170,000 on the back of 50 sales.
Nearby Queenton has also seen staggering price growth, up 49.3 per cent to $168,000.
But both suburbs still have some way to go to claw back to their peak a decade ago.
Ray White figures for the June quarter revealed that almost 5000 more properties hit the market across the state during the three month period, but competition for affordable housing saw the number of properties listed for sale in some towns, including Ayr and Charters Towers, decline.
Geaneys Real Estate Charters Towers agent Gail Hooper said there was just not much left to sell.
“The rental demand is very high and what isn’t selling is properties with long tenancies in place,” Ms Hooper said. “A lot of buyers want to live in a property, with people moving back to town, or they move in as they have kids going to school here. There are also a lot of workers in town.”
In Townsville, the biggest price growth over the 12 months to August has been in Rosslea, up 38.2 per cent to $461,500 and Belgian Gardens, up 30.9 per cent to $530,000.
Median house prices in Belgian Gardens are now $10,000 more than they were 10 years ago, according to the latest REA Market Trends report.
And it is good news for many of the suburbs swamped during the unprecedented 2019 floods.
House values in Oonoonba have soared 21.9 per cent to $320,000, and in Idalia, the median house value is now $500,000, up from $487,000 a decade ago. Median house values in Hermit Park are now $8250 more than they were at their peak.
Keyes & Co principal Damien Keyes recently sold 4 Waterdale Pocket in Idalia ahead of auction for $800,000.
He said all the ingredients were there for a strong spring selling season.
“I think we are in for the best selling season in Townsville ever,” he said.
“Local buyers remain very active, but we are also hearing from some very angry and frustrated people in NSW and Victoria who are looking at their lifestyle, the prices in Sydney and Melbourne, and they are just over
it. They are actively looking and considering a move once they can get out.”
Mr Keyes said interstate investors were also making a strong comeback, with the added external interest in the region pushing up competition and prices.
In Townsville’s most expensive suburb – Castle Hill – the median house value is $1,087,500, up 20.2 per cent in 12 months.
That is now $87,500 more than it was a decade ago.
The rise in prices is even more staggering in North Ward, where the median house value is now $737,500 – $167,500 more than it was in 2011.
It is a similar story in Alice River and Horseshoe Bay, where the hunger for lifestyle properties has pushed prices up.
There, median house values in both suburbs are now $90,000 higher than a decade ago.
House values are also up on 2011 in Railway Estate ($32,750), Currajong ($11,000), Bluewater Park ($30,000), Bluewater ($35,000), Rangewood ($70,000), Bushland Beach ($5500), Horseshoe Bay ($90,000), Alligator Creek ($20,000) and Pimlico ($5000).
Ray White’s Julie Mahoney recently sold two Castle Hill properties, 43 Yarrawonga Drive for $1.425m and 5 Cottesmore Crescent for $1.95m, at auction.
Both were purchased by local upgraders.
“But I am hearing from a lot more people in Sydney and Melbourne who grew up here and want to move back,” she said.
Ms Mahoney said the lockdowns in southern states were only likely to turbocharge Townsville’s spring selling season, particularly for high-end properties in Castle Hill, North Ward and on Magnetic Island.
“The demand from qualified buyers is very strong,” she said. “It is busy now … I had 120 groups through four properties last Sunday alone.”