Kiwis lead charge of overseas buyers
THE number of overseas buyers searching for Queensland property hit a new high in May, with those considering making the move still hovering well above preCovid levels.
New data from REA Group shows that overseas house hunters have also widened their net, and are looking for homes across our major regions.
While the Gold Coast continues to be the biggest lure for overseas buyers, the data shows property hunters are also looking for, or at least
dreaming of, a new home in the Townsville, Cairns, Sunshine Coast, Hervey Bay and Mackay regions.
On May 1, the number of monthly property searches from overseas buyers looking at a home in Queensland peaked at about 650,000, and increase of 34 per cent compared to March 2020.
That number had fallen to about 630,000 on July 1, but that number is still up yearon-year.
“The peak in overseas buyer searches this year is the highest on record,” REA economic research executive manager Cameron Kusher
said. “This is based on available data from the last few years, however, it is likely to be the highest recorded figure prior to this too, given the real estate audience in Australia is at historic highs.”
Leading the charge were the Kiwis, with search data showing that potential buyers from The Land of the Long White Cloud were the top market in every region in Queensland.
New Zealand, like NSW and Victoria, is grappling with an outbreak of the Delta strain of Covid-19, and was plunged into its own lockdown three weeks ago.
New Zealand residents represented 26.21 per cent of all international searches, followed by 14.54 per cent out of the United Kingdom and 13.17 per cent from the United States.
On a city level, the majority of New Zealand searches came out of Auckland (12.65 per cent), the epicentre of the current outbreak, Canterbury (3.57 per cent), Wellington (3.53 per cent) and Waikato (1.5 per cent).
Townsville is a hot market for searchers from New Zealand (1), the UK (2), US (3), Canada (4) and South Africa (5).
Ray White Townsville agent Julia Mahoney said family connections were the biggest drawcard for New Zealanders looking to make the move to Townsville.
She said one family, from Auckland, had recently bid on a house at North Ward, but were pipped at the post.
“They are still looking,” she said.
In Cairns, RE/MAX principal Ray Murphy said a lot of overseas buyers were Aussie expats returning home to the region. He said the vast majority were returning from the UK, and were making “very competitive” offers.