‘Great market squeeze’: The best QLD suburbs for buyers & sellers
From Russell Island to Dutton Park, Inala and Macleay Island, these are Queensland’s 20 best suburbs for home buyers and sellers. SEE THE FULL LIST
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The Sunshine State is in the grip of a ‘great market squeeze’ as buyers outnumber sellers, putting homeowners in the box seat and creating frenzied scenes at open homes where agents claim “you can almost get killed in the rush”.
And the pressure is not just being felt in the populated southeast corner, with new data showing the current market conditions are pushing up house prices right across the state.
A new report by mortgage broker, Aussie Home Loans, and property data firm, CoreLogic, reveals the mismatch between demand and supply has created an “urgency in the market”, with homes in some suburbs selling faster and buyers losing negotiating power as a result.
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But there is some hope for buyers in what is arguably becoming a sellers’ market.
“Some regions are recording exceptionally strong selling conditions, while others are well and truly reflecting a buyers market,” the report said.
The number of homes advertised for sale across Brisbane in December 2020 was 22 per cent lower than in December 2019, and about one third lower than the same time in 2018.
In regional Queensland, advertised stock levels fell to “at least 10 year lows” in December, reducing by 20.2 per cent from December 2019 levels and 36.4 per cent below the recent high in December 2015, the report revealed.
Buying activity, however, rose by 15.2 per cent, resulting in shorter days on market and less price discounting.
“The most tightly held suburbs of regional Queensland were a mix of resource intensive locations and coastal regions within the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast markets,” the report said.
The best buyers’ markets in Queensland — those with the highest percentage of stock on the market — can be found in Redland Bay, Somerset and the Scenic Rim, but also on the Sunshine Coast where new housing developments are being constructed.
Topping the top 10 list for buyers was Russell Island in the Redlands, which had more than 19 per cent of homes listed for sale in 2020 and a median home value of just $241,855.
Palmview on the Sunshine Coast is also a good bet for buyers, with 18.3 per cent of the total Queensland stock on the market.
They include new houses in the Harmony estate, which is being constructed by AVID Property Group.
Baringa, which is home to Stockland’s new Aura development, also made the top 10 list.
Elsewhere, Wongaling Beach and Tully, both on the Cassowary Coast, Childers and Woodgate (Bundaberg), Monto (North Burnett), Agnes Water (Gladstone), Cooktown (Cook) and Ravenshoe (Tablelands) were also among the top buyers markets.
For sellers, the tightest markets — those with the lowest percentage of housing stock for sale — were dominated by resource regions like Middlemount and Dysart (Isaac), Mornington (Mount Isa) and Millmerran (Toowoomba).
Those suburbs had the lowest stock levels, ranging from 0.9 per cent at Middlemount to 4.2 per cent at Garbutt.
Keyes & Co agent Matt O’Hanlon listed 23a Lonerganne St in Garbutt for $259,000 just days ago, and is already getting plenty of interest from buyers.
A unit, in the same suburb, could have been “sold five times over” if it didn’t have a long-term tenant.
“Garbutt is a bit of a Cinderella suburb, understated, but it is walking distance to major shopping centres, the airport, and just a few minutes from The Strand and CBD,” he said.
“And it is a fraction of the cost of a house in North Ward or West End.” Mr O’Hanlon said well-presented and priced properties across the city were selling fast, often attracting multiple offers.”
Looking at the top 20 markets for buyers and sellers across Queensland, just three buyers suburbs were identified in Greater Brisbane (Russell Island, Kooralbyn and Macleay Island), while 13 suburbs were named sellers markets.
One of those sellers’ markets is Brisbane’s Dutton Park, which is going through huge urban renewal.
Place Woolloongabba agent Darren Cosgrove said the inner-city suburb was incredibly tightly-held and vendors were becoming more reluctant to sell as prices rose.
“The problem is people hang on to properties for so long in Dutton Park,” Mr Cosgrove said.
“The inquiry from buyers is astronomical, especially with the new Dutton Park State Secondary College, which is offsetting some of the demand from Brisbane State High School.
“It only opened three weeks ago, but the demand from people wanting to buy inside the catchment has helped drive prices.”
Aussie Home Loans CEO James Symond said the research revealed buyers should be prepared to cast their search net wider.
“We’ve got the lowest amount of stock available to be purchased in the market in over 10 years,” Mr Symond said.
“The top 10 suburbs with the highest proportion of homes on the market (in Greater Brisbane) last year were all located outside of the Brisbane City Council area, a clear indication that buyers should be casting their net wider.
“I expect there will continue to be an imbalance between available supply and strong buyer demand in Brisbane, especially amongst first home buyers, despite the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.”
But despite the market favouring sellers, Mr Symond believes it is still a good time to buy — especially in Queensland.
“I personally believe Queensland is absolutely at the top of the mountain in terms of benefitting from this COVID crisis,” he said.
“People are looking for a lifestyle change, an adjustment in house price change, and Queensland offers some great affordability, lifestyle changes, still some great work opportunities... and should be the recipient of some tremendous growth over the next 16 and 26 months.
“I expect the historically low interest rates will continue for some time and expect buyer activity to rise across Queensland over the next year.”
Data from Ray White shows a 25 per cent jump in buyers checking in at open homes since November.
Ray White East Brisbane sales agent Cathy Roche said entry-level CBD properties were attracting, on average, 40 buyer groups though each open home.
“Open for inspection numbers are huge right now. I just got off the phone with a buyer who was crying as she keeps missing out on properties as other agents keep selling them prior to their auction dates,” Ms Roche said.
“You’ll almost get killed in the rush at an open!
“I have four new renovators all coming to market soon and I could sell them all three times over and still have buyers left over. They are all local buyers and all worried the prices are going up.”
Buyer’s agents are also reporting tight stock levels across Queensland.
BuyersBuyers.com.au co-founder Pete Wargent said the housing market had shifted from a buyer’s market to a seller’s one, where fear of missing out (FOMO) had become a major factor.
“It’s not uncommon to see lower stock levels over the summer break, but this year has been something else,” Mr Wargent said.
“Even as new listings have begun to pick up supply is being comfortably outstripped by demand and the market overall is very tight.”
Mr Wargent said he expected a number of markets to deliver double-digit growth over the calendar year.
“In particular, houses with a high land value component and scarcity value are likely to enjoy very strong demand and capital growth, both in the short and long term,” he said.
“Other markets, particularly south-east Queensland and popular regional areas that offer particularly good lifestyle choices, also enjoy strong demand, and this is likely to result in strong price growth both in the short and long-term, as the trend of increased popularity of such areas is sustained.”
TOP 20 MARKETS FOR HOME BUYERS IN QLD
Suburbs ranked by highest percentage of stock listed for sale in 2020
Suburb %age of housing No. of listings No. of listings Median home
stock on the market 2020 December 2020 December 2019 value
Russell Island 19.3% 190 266 $241,855
Palmview 18.3% 45 53 $632,578
Kooralbyn 18.1% 67 111 $311,717
Monto 17% 51 78 $112,033
Woodgate 16.8% 63 95 $404,241
Baringa 16.7% 42 50 $530,254
Agnes Water 16.4% 133 209 $333,013
Wongaling Beach 16.4% 65 81 $333,646
Childers 15% 57 66 $228,786
Cooktown 14.6% 106 102 $255,290
Ravenshoe 14% 42 67 $195,425
Tully 14% 103 114 $180,889
Gin Gin 13.4% 48 51 $170,835
Cooloola Cove 13% 49 102 $353,331
Kleinton 12.8% 26 36 $540,457
Macleay Island 12.6% 86 133 $277,388
River Heads 12.5% 41 57 $377,884
Zilzie 12.4% 42 76 $393,233
Birtinya 12.4% 74 72 $559,531
East Innisfail 12.4% 71 83 $167,236
(Source: CoreLogic, Aussie Home Loans)
TOP 20 MARKETS FOR HOME SELLERS IN QLD
Suburbs ranked by lowest percentage of stock listed for sale in 2020
Suburb %age of housing No. of listings No. of listings Median home
stock on the market 2020 December 2020 December 2019 value
Middlemount 0.9% 5 3 $135,530
Millmerran 1.8% 9 7 $197,134
Cunnamulla 2.2% 3 10 $70,428
North Maclean 2.6% 3 7 $637,752
Dysart 2.6% 19 22 $120,396
Dutton Park 2.8% 7 12 $876,595
Gaven 3.1% 2 8 $817,339
Inala 3.5% 51 55 $348,229
Stretton 3.5% 12 26 $790,447
Bellbowrie 3.6% 9 31 $613,266
Mansfield 3.6% 15 21 $663,763
Buccan 3.6% 5 8 $697,949
Runcorn 3.7% 43 64 $501,793
Eight Mile Plains 3.7% 51 74 $721,027
Pine Mountain 3.7% 6 7 $568,599
Acacia Ridge 3.7% 29 28 $388,624
Sun Valley 3.7% 6 11 $225,292
Wishart 3.8% 26 29 $761,360
Park Ridge South 3.8% 6 13 $657,776
Parrearra 3.9% 8 38 $684,302
(Source: CoreLogic, Aussie Home Loans)
Originally published as ‘Great market squeeze’: The best QLD suburbs for buyers & sellers
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