Gold Coast property market: Housing increasingly unaffordable for average workers, new report reveals

Prospective homeowners and the non-wealthy have been given a crushing reality check about the city’s property market as fears grow the Gold Coast is coming Australia’s Monaco.

The workers who bore the brunt of the Covid crisis are increasingly unable to afford to live on the Gold Coast, with new data revealing the impact of the surging market.

Research commissioned by the Property Council of Australia has underlined fears from industry leaders that the city’s market, beset by a lagging building sector and a lack of available land, is becoming unaffordable to the average worker.

Property Council state boss Jess Caire said buyers faced a difficult future.

“For a full-time nurse and ambulance officer on a combined income of $149,358, the Gold Coast’s median house price would absorb more than 50 per cent of their household income, placing it well beyond their reach,” she said.

“The median unit price is also unaffordable, requiring more than 30 per cent of their household income.

Jess Caire Queensland Executive Director Property Council of Australia. Picture David Clark

“If you’re on a single income household, the research shows there is no affordable place to live – whether that’s renting or buying.

“These are the same people we rely on to save lives, fight crime and teach our children, and it will be Queensland’s loss when they are forced to choose a new career or state to live because they can’t afford to live here.”

The Property Council’s Beyond Reach report was released on Monday and looks at the issue across the state and is based on data from the Queensland Government Statisticians Office, Real Estate Institute of Queensland and CoreLogic.

Ms Caire said whichever party formed government following the October state election would need to step up quickly to unlock housing.

“We will be calling on the newly formed government, post the October election, to commit to a thorough evidence-based review of the impact taxation has on the delivery of new homes in Queensland,” she said.

Average workers are struggling to afford to buy on the Gold Coast.

“It’s time for political bravery and real industry consultation and we need decisive action to change the policies and tax settings that punish growth and punish home buyers.”

It comes just weeks after the latest Apartment Market Essentials report, released by property consulting firm Urbis, found the average price of units on the Gold Coast had risen by more than half a million dollars in just six months.

It found the average price during the March quarter was $1.73m, up from $1.13m in September 2023.

The figure, which was also an increase of more than $60,000 since December, is the highest on record in the decade since Urbis began recording data.

More than 91 per cent of sales recorded in the first quarter of the year were above $1m.

There are plenty of cranes in the sky but not enough to keep pace with population growth. Picture: Glenn Campbell

The latest Gold Coast Market Overview report for April by Colliers International found the average Gold Coast house price was now locked in above $1m.

Just 3299 building approvals were issued between July 2023 and January 2024, compared to 5941 in the 2022-23 financial year.

Most approvals were granted in Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach-Burleigh, Ormeau-Oxenford, Robina, and Coolangatta.

While there are more than 60 buildings under construction, few are high-density or aimed at being affordable, with a focus on boutique and luxury projects that deliver higher returns.

Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) Queensland spokesman Andrew Bell said last month that the state government needed to offer “significant” concessions on stamp duties plus “changes around land tax to encourage building projects” while urging the federal government “needed to offer incentives and grants to build in the affordable housing space”.

Originally published as Gold Coast property market: Housing increasingly unaffordable for average workers, new report reveals