Russell Island in south-east Queensland leads list of least resilient suburbs: RP Data

The Southern Moreton Bay island of Russell Island has ranked as Australia’s least resilient and poorest-performing suburb, with vendors having to discount their properties by an average of almost 30% and wait more than four months (127 days) to sell.

The figures are based on RP Data sales information for the 12 months to June, compiled for The Australian Financial Review.

The island, about 50 minutes from Brisbane and connected to the mainland by ferry and vehicle barge, has an oversupply of cheap residential land for sale, with some blocks priced as low as $25,000.

The list of least resilient suburbs includes the inner-Brisbane suburb of Hamilton on the Brisbane River, where properties take around three months to sell, with an average discount of 20%.

The list also includes a number of Perth coastal suburbs, including Dalkeith, which has a median price in excess of $2.6 million, and Swanbourne and Watermans Bay, which both have median prices in excess of $1 million.

The only NSW entrant is Copacabana in Gosford on the central coast, with prices discounted 18.5% on average and taking more than five months to sell.

Australia’s 12 least resilient suburbs

Source: RP Data/Australian Financial Review

One of the most recent sales was this distinctive, mock-tudor two-bedroom house (pictured below), which took 91 days to sell and sold at a 19% discount to its original asking price.  It sold for $160,000 through Ray White Russell Island in June, having been listed at $198,000 in April.

Other recent property sales include a four-bedroom house on Aquarius Road that sold for $380,000 in April, having been on the market since September 2009 at an asking price of $450,000 – a discount of 15%, with the listing held by three different estate agents.

In January this year a three-bedroom, two-storey Queenslander on a large 1,096-square-metre block on Banksia Street sold for $245,000, having been listed for nearly four years (1,202) days. Its listing price in October last year was $320,000 – a discount of 23%.

Darren Ashenden from Ray White Russell Island, who also lives on the island and is selling a two-bedroom house on Rossi Avenue for $175,000, says it’s the best buyers’ climate he has seen for 11 years and won't last forever.

He tells Property Observer the downturn kicked off in the wake of the GFC and there has since been a “significant downturn in pricing".

“At the start of 2010 I was selling just four blocks of land under $50,000 – now there is a huge selection under that price.”

Another agent, Trent Jamieson from LJ Hooker Bay Islands, is selling two 607-square-metre blocks for Just $25,000 each. Jamieson says the market "won't last long" and is open to negotiation on the two blocks of land.

Ashenden says there is a currently a lot of residential land for sale, which had historically been earmarked for investment.

For young people with families, Ashenden says a standard residential block of land can be picked up for between $30,000 and $40,000.

“There’s a lot of it.”

“It’s a unique market place, really condensed from budget to top dollar."

He says around 70% of the market is budget, with the rest being lifestyle buyers seeking waterfront and water view properties price between $270,000 and $370,000.

Residents include working-class people who commute to Brisbane everyday via the passenger ferry or vehicle-access barges, which run about every half-hour.

In terms of amenities, Russell Island is “fully serviced” and includes a Super IGA, speciality stores, an RSL, and bowls club.

RP Data figures show that Russell Island house prices have risen less than 1% a per year over the past five years, up 4.7% with a median price of $225,000.

Russell Island estate agent Edward A'Bear, who originally opened for business on Russell Island in 1999 and is selling a two-bedroom house for just under $270,000 as well as other properties, says land values have risen from $5,000 per block of land from 1999 to around $25,000 to $40,000 today.

“The prime spikes were 2003 and 2007 where the same land rose from $5,000 to over $50,000 and now dropped back to the levels today.”

He describes Russell Island as a “big monopoly board” with only a few gilt-edged waterfront and water-view blocks of land available and lots of "Old Kent" properties" available.

“Dynamics are parking issues on the mainland and cost of transport to and from the islands.

“The newly elected Redland City Council members and councillors are determined to resolve these matters and there is every confidence they will do so,” he says.

He describes Russell Island and nearby Karragarra, Lamb and Macleay islands as some of the best kept secret from a real estate perspective.

“We are very confident of the market activity increasing and level of sales is just beginning to reflect this,” he adds.

A report in July on russellisland.com.au, a local tourism and real estate website, notes that “land on Russell Island is cheap, it is so cheap that people are shying away because they believe there must be something wrong with it”.

“The price of land on Russell right now is a classic market over reaction. It has fallen too far people, it has intrinsic value much higher than where it is now.

“Good quality residential land under $40,000 within 40 kilometres of the capital city of the fastest-growing state in Australia is crazy,” says “local investor” on russellisland.com.au.

Russell Island is the biggest of the Southern Moreton Bay Islands located between the mainland and North Stradbroke Island, measuring eight kilometres long and nearly three kilometres wide and is only 50 minutes from the Brisbane CBD.

According to census 2011, Russell Island has 6,300 people with 4,274 dwellings – nearly all houses, mainly two- and three-bedroom properties.

It had its first European settlers in 1866 with farmers and oystermen the first inhabitants. The first small village, called Jacksonsville, was built in 1906 that had sawmill, pineapple canning factory, jetty and cinema. The first school opened in 1916.

Half of the population (49.9%) earns a gross weekly income of less than $600 – compared with 22.8% for the rest of Queensland.