The Gold Coast market is strong amid the Covid pandemic – Interstate and locals are a strong force in the growing Gold Coast market.
A surge in first home buyers is set to fuel house price hikes, with the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) tipping property values will “increase dramatically” in 2021.
Key points:
- Real Estate Institute Queensland expects Gold Coast property prices to “increase dramatically” in 2021.
- Gold Coast suburb of Clear Island Waters, values have jumped 11.3 per cent year-on-year.
- Home loans for first home buyers across Queensland skyrocketed 41 per cent in September.
First home buyers ‘out in force’
Some Gold Coast suburbs have recorded bigger price hikes with values in Arundel increasing 5 per cent and Broadbeach Waters 7.2 percent.The average price for a home on the Gold Coast is now $640,000 and for a unit it is $420,000. (ABC Gold Coast Dominic Cansdale)
“Clear Island Waters — that reached the highest at 11.3 per cent which is quite significant,” Mr Bleylock said.
“We’re also expecting prices to continue to rise probably a lot more than what they are at the moment.”
The REIQ said the appetite for Queensland property had ramped up in recent months with a frenzy of activity from first home buyers across the state.
“A 41 per cent boost just in September alone and that equates to 3,100 loan applications that were taken out.
“What we’re seeing is first home buyers are really coming out in force.
“We’re also seeing with interstate migration is there’s been an 18 per cent increase from February through to August 2020 year and that’s primarily coming from NSW and Victoria.”
Property analyst Terry Ryder said first home buyers were the most active they had been in a decade.
“I think first home buyers are the most active cohort in the property market across Australia and it’s no surprise,” he said.
“I would argue there’s never been a better time to be a first home buyer in Australia, provided you have secure employment.
“Interest rates have never been lower and the level of government assistance for first home buyers has never been higher.
“In years gone by first home buyers were often competing with investors for the same property but that’s not so much the case.
“Despite all the buoyancy in the market, investors are largely sitting on the fence.”
Nationwide property boom
Mr Ryder believed Australia was heading into a nationwide property boom with strong markets across the nation but especially in regional areas.
“In various parts of the country that boom is already underway, it’s already a reality.
“I also think the trend of expats wanting to get the hell out of wherever they are in Europe, where the virus is just out of control and come back to Australia.
“Expats are coming back in large numbers, hundreds of thousands of them have already returned.”
Broadbeach real estate agent Troy Fitzgerald believed a lack of stock was also driving prices higher.
“It’s actually quite nuts at the moment,” Mr Fitzgerald said.
“I haven’t seen it this good since before the GFC.
“Especially in the southern market, like anywhere between Mermaid down to Tugun and Bilinga — so all the way along the coastline.”
Exceptionally tight vacancy rates
The REIQ predicts the relaxation of border restrictions will make it even harder to find a rental property on the Gold Coast.
The current vacancy rate was 1.6 per cent but it was even lower in southern suburbs.
Mr Bleylock said Palm Beach tenants were facing a serious rental property shortage with a vacancy rate of 0.2 percent and in Miami it is 0.4 percent.
“Vacancy rates will remain as tight as they are,” he said.
