Distressed home sales expected to rise in tourism hotspots

A rise in distressed home sales is expected in coming months, but experts say the Coast will be better off than other cities.

DRONE: Aerial photos of Mooloolaba, Alexandra Headland, Sunshine Coast.

A RISE in distressed home sales is expected in coming months, but experts say the Coast will be better off than other cities.

New data analysis by the Domain Group revealed a small increase in urgent home sales when comparing listings in February and May.

The data filtered listings for descriptions that included: reduced price, mortgage in possession, urgent sale or motivated vendor.

Distressed listings on the Sunshine and Gold Coasts rose 0.6 per cent to 3.4 and 5.5 per cent, respectively.

There is concern distressed sales could rise once government stimulus packages such as JobKeeper and the "mortgage holiday" offered by some banks stops.

"It's all those holiday regions that have gone into distressed selling," Domain senior research analyst Dr Nicole Powell said.

Property analyst Terry Ryder said the Sunshine Coast would fare better than the other tourism-reliant cities including the Gold Coast and Cairns.

"The Sunshine Coast will be less affected because there's so much else going on … the area's economy has diversified to be more than a tourist hotspot," he said.

Real Estate Institute Queensland's latest vacancy report provided further evidence the Coast's property market had so far weathered the COVID-19 storm.

It said the Sunshine Coast "hasn't offered up any side effects from COVID-19 as of yet" with a 0.2 per cent drop in its vacancy rate to 1.4 per cent.

REIQ Sunshine Coast zone chair Matt Diesel said he had not seen an increase in distressed sales.

He said inquiries from southern states had "gone through the roof", spurred on by those who could work from home and were looking for a change in lifestyle.

Mr Diesel said the Coast's access to high-speed internet and expanding airport were other motivating factors for residents wanting to make the move.

"We have low stock levels at the moment so even if there is an increase in distressed sales those homes will be picked up quickly," he said.

"It's a watch and wait situation, but I'm pretty confident in the direction the Sunshine Coast is going."

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