Townsville residential market remains slow: HTW

Townsville’s residential market remains slow with the most active sector being property priced under $450,000, according to Herron Todd White’s latest monthly market report.

The property advisory firm says that the median house price as at June 2016 was $335,000. The under $450,000 price bracket covers a wide section of the housing market with the upper end providing for modern homes in modern land estates.

One example would be a four bedroom home at 58 Greenwood Drive (above) that is for sale for $349,000.

HTW says the buyers are mostly owner occupiers looking to upgrade the amenity of their property or move to a better location.

Renovators are also active in this price bracket with the availability of tradespeople and the low cost of borrowing appealing to this type of buyer.

"Overall affordability remains the key focus for buyers who must take into consideration their own financial and employment positions and are buying properties they perceive as good buying based on their current economic circumstances," the report advised.

The slowest sector is currently the vacant land market which has seen a significant reduction in sale volumes over the past two years.

This reflects a lack of buyer confidence in the market stemming from the subdued economy, along with the economics of building a new home versus the cost of buying an existing home.

The inner city unit market and the higher end residential housing market are also less frequently traded.

This is due to a combination of thin volumes of stock on the market along with vendors willing to hold back going to market until conditions improve.

"Within the inner city unit market we have seen some recent sales by vendors unwilling to hold on for market improvement that have reflected significant decreases in value from purchase prices."