Gold Coast north-east sees changes in buyer profiles and market conditions; Herron Todd White
In the Gold Coast north-east area - from Southport to Hope Island and out to the M1 - buyer profiles have changed along with the changing market conditions, according to a recent report from valuation firm Herron Todd White.
“As the Gold Coast north-east is an established area, the typical buyer profile currently comprises first time buyers, upgraders and investors. Coming into the back end of 2019, we saw an increase in market confidence that resulted in an increase in buyer activity for established dwellings in areas such as Helensvale, Runaway Bay, Labrador, Southport, Arundel, Molendinar and Parkwood,” the March report found.
“This buyer activity was shared between first home buyers, downsizers and upgraders, with investors slowly returning to the market in late 2019 and early 2020.”
“A lot of the activity has come in the middle to lower end of the dwelling market, being sub-$800,000, which has traditionally seen a higher turnover of stock due to the affordability range for all buyer profiles.”
“Whilst there hasn’t been any noticeable increase in values in the areas over the past 12 months, due to the May election and the banking Royal Commission, there has been a number of opportunistic buyers who believe the market has bottomed.”
“As mentioned, people renovating to sell are slowly re-entering the market, however profit margins are tight. For example, a small one-bedroom unit in Labrador was purchased in August 2019 for $175,000, renovated and then sold in February 2020 for $219,000,” the report continued.
After taking into account the cost of the renovation, interest expense, stamp duty, legal fees, body corporate payments and agent’s fees, the net profit appears to be minimal.
In regard to the $800,000 plus end of the residential market, we are still seeing interstate investors buying property as an investment, with the reported intention of moving from Sydney and Melbourne to live in the future as they still see the Gold Coast as good value compared to their home states, however they are competing against a slowly growing number of local upgraders looking for value.
The report adds that downsizers are only a small portion of the market as people are choosing to stay in the family home for comfort, rather than move to high density living.
“Conversations with downsizers indicate an initial shock due to the close proximity of neighbours, however this is later tempered by the reduced level of maintenance, increased security and the ability to lock up the unit and travel.”
“We do caution downsizers to take care with unit selection as units continue to perform poorly in the Gold Coast north-east region due to inflated off the plan purchase prices.”
The report concludes that, overall, the start of 2020 has seen a lot more buyer activity with the value of sold properties appearing to be reasonable.
This increase in buyer activity is a sign of increased demand, which in turn is expected to lead to a steady increase in values over time.