Gold Coast new apartment sales averaging $730,000

The Gold Coast is bright spot for apartment sales, with 33% increase in apartment sales compared to last quarter, according to Urbis’ latest Apartment Essentials report.
 
Research by the property consultants found that in Q1 2018 sales were buoyed by the recent Commonwealth Games excitement.

There have been nine new project launches, equating to over 1,000 new apartments.

Apartment approvals dropped in the quarter to 1,385, the third consecutive drop since mid-2017.

However, compared to Brisbane where only just over 300 apartments were approved in the quarter, the pipeline of supply continues to build, National Director of Property Economics and Research at Urbis, Clinton Ostwald noted.

Some 65 per cent of sales were the two-bedroom, two-bathroom product.

The weighted average sale price was recorded at $729,856.

In late 2017 the Gold Coast weighted average sale price across the four precincts registered $619,737 in the December quarter.

The Gold Coast Central Precinct recorded the highest weighted average sale price at $731,786, due to its higher level of high rise developments selling.

The most affordable precinct was the Coastal Fringe Precinct, which recorded a weighted average sale price of $537,013 in late 2017. The Coastal Fringe Precinct was also the top selling precinct during the quarter, registering 37% of total sales, and also the top selling precinct for 2017.

A recent Urbis advisory calculated owner occupier sales dominated in the Gold Coast, making up 54% of sales respectively.

The Gold Coast apartment market performance, with the recent Commonwealth Games stimulating project launches and the local apartment market, will be tested, Mr Ostwald said, adding it would be interesting to see how long the Commonwealth Games uplift would continue for as this market is likely to have benefited to the additional exposure. 

By contrast inner Brisbane apartments are still primarily a product aimed at investors, and this was represented in the data with 43% of sales being to foreign investor buyers.

Urbis senior Consultant Lynda Campbell said recently there are currently 22 projects yielding over 2,000 apartments which could potentially launch across the Gold Coast in the first half of 2018.

“A quarter of these are in the Southern Beaches Precinct, which has gone from being one of the most undersupplied markets to now having the second highest level of future supply and the highest level of active supply."

*Coastal Fringe suburbs include Arundel, Parkwood, Molendinar, Ashmore, Benowa, Bundall, Carrara, Robina, Clear Island Waters, Merrimac and Varsity Lakes.
*North Shore suburbs include Biggera Waters, Coombabah, Helensvale, Hollywell, Hope Island, Paradise Point and Runaway Bay.
*Gold Coast Central suburbs include Labrador, Southport, Main Beach, Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach and Broadbeach Waters.
*Southern Beaches suburbs include Bilinga, Burleigh Heads, Burleigh Waters, Casuarina, Coolangatta, Currumbin, Kingscliff, Kirra, Mermaid Beach, Mermaid Waters, Miami, Palm Beach, Tugun and Tweed Heads.