Regional cities set to join in Queensland's real estate renaissance
GUEST OBSERVATION
The REIQ’s Queensland Market Monitor (QMM) for the June quarter, released last week, provides enormous encouragement to property buyers and sellers heading into the spring selling season.
The QMM reveals sales across Queensland are up 7% for houses, 13% for units and an impressive 37% in vacant land sales.
This increase in sales activity was predominantly recorded in the south eastern corner of the state. The Brisbane Local Government Area led the charge with an increase of 19%, closely followed by Logan, which was up 18%.
On the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, sales activity remained relatively stable over the quarter; however the house market in the new smaller council area of Noosa saw sales activity strengthen, up 22%.
Meanwhile in regional Queensland, Toowoomba continued in its stride, with sales activity up five%. Our other two major tourism centres of the Fraser Coast and Cairns also fared well, up 7% and 4% respectively.
And while the state’s total house sales were up across all price points, the upper end of the market continued to perform strongest. Sales in the million dollar plus price point were up 28% across Queensland, along with an increase of 20% in the $500,000-plus range.
Million dollar sales in the unit market also strengthened, with preliminary sales numbers across Queensland up around 10%.
Some of the best news to emerge is that we are beginning to see markets stabilising in Rockhampton, Gladstone and Mackay.
These three regional centres saw their house markets peak between late 2011 and early 2012. However, sales activity has been slowly decreasing ever since - except for a brief spike in sales when the stamp duty exemption for principal places of residence was reinstated in September 2012.
Rockhampton is faring best of these three regional centres, with its rural sector helping to insulate the local economy from the resources downturn.
While sales volumes are currently sitting at around 50 to 60% of those recorded at the height of their respective cycles, the signs moving forward are positive.
Gladstone agents report that conditions maybe be “normalising” as they begin to resemble those experienced prior to the mining boom, when investors played a much less active role in the market.
Meanwhile in Mackay, local agents believe the market may have finally bottomed out and they remain positive about the rest of the year and 2015.
Other signs that these markets may be starting to turn the corner are reflected in stabilising average days on market and average vendor discounting.
While median prices over the June quarter eased further, these indicators suggest better times aren’t too far away for Rockhampton, Gladstone and Mackay.
As confidence grows, these key regional centres seem destined to join the real estate renaissance underway in Queensland’s other major real estate markets.
Antonia Mercorella is acting CEO of the REIQ.
Picture courtesy of Allan Henderson/ C.C.2.0