164 per cent: How much values have increased in every Qld suburb since 2020

Homeowners in 29 Qld suburbs saw their values soar more than 100 per cent in the three years since the start of the pandemic, and most are not in the southeast. INTERACTIVE

Homeowners in 896 Queensland suburbs defied early doomsday forecasts of a pandemic-led property market crash, recording value growth of as much as 164.5 per cent in three years.

Exclusive new data shows that there were just 21 suburbs where property values, mostly units, declined in the three years to April this year, while at the other end of the property rainbow, 24 suburbs recorded staggering price growth north of 100 per cent.

Hitting the real estate jackpot was arguably the Gold Coast’s best kept secret, semirural Guanaba, which recorded a jawdropping 164.5 per cent increase in house values.

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406 Guanaba Creek Rd, Guanaba, will go to auction on May 27

There, the median house price in 2020 was $879,000, but with lockdown escapees migrating to the regions in search of more space and a tree change, the median house price in the acreage hamlet is now $2,325,000 – $1,446,000 more than just three years ago.

Ray White Prestige agent Josh Thomas said he was not surprised by the huge increase, adding that there was a combination of factors behind the shock spike in values.

“Guanaba is a mix of entry-level houses and big, multimillion acreage properties,” he said.

“And it just so happened that when Covid-19 hit, some of those bigger properties came onto the market.

“Interstate buyers escaping lockdowns were competing with local buyers, some of whom were relocating from larger properties out west.”

And Mr Thomas said there was still plenty of demand in the area, with properties currently on the market ranging from offers over $999,000 to $5,188,888.

“There has always been demand there but it is more dynamic now,” he said.

Hot on its heels with 153.8 per cent house price growth was Nikenbah in the Wide Bay region, which also benefited from migration, much of it out of the overcooked Sunshine Coast market after it was overrun by interstate buyers with big wallets.

The Nikenbah median house price is now $825,000, up from just $325,000 in 2020.

Gin Gin, also in the Wide Bay region, has also seen its median house price increase 146.4 per cent to $345,000, as buyers sought more affordable places to live.

22 Bayridge Heights Drive, Nikenbah, sold for $820,000 in March

Blackall (+136.7 per cent), Willowbank (+135.4 per cent), Yandina Creek (+130.1 per cent), Tiaro (+116.7 per cent), Gaven (+114.3 per cent), Queenton (+114.3 per cent) and Innes Park (+112.8 per cent) rounded out the top 10 for price growth.

Of the suburbs that recorded house price growth above 100 per cent, Wide Bay had six suburbs, the Sunshine Coast (4), Ipswich (2), Moreton Bay North (2) and Central Queensland (2).

31 Musgrave Drive, Yandina Creek, sold for $2.635m in February

Queensland’s most expensive suburb, Teneriffe, was the only Brisbane suburb in 100 per cent-plus club, recording 102.6 per cent growth to hit $3.85 million.

33A Beeston Street, Teneriffe, is listed for $3.96 million

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PropTrack economist Angus Moore said there were not many places that did not benefit in Queensland during the boom.

“Prices in Greater Brisbane are up 42.6 per cent since March 2020, and that’s even taking into account that prices had come off a bit so that shows just how strong that growth period was,” he said.

“Nationally, in 2021 alone, prices were up 23 per cent which was the third fastest period of growth since 1880.

“And we are seeing values stabilising again, with the fourth consecutive month of growth.”

PropTrack economist Angus Moore

Across Greater Brisbane, unit owners in Kooralbyn were the biggest winners with median values rising from $89,500 to $222,000, or 148 per cent.

The top house suburbs in Ipswich were Willowbank (+135.4 per cent) and Kalbar (+111.1 per cent), while in Moreton Bay they were Upper Caboolture (+106 per cent) and Toorbul (+104.7 per cent).

In Logan, Carbrook (+92.2 per cent) and Park Ridge South (+88.3 per cent) were the big hitters.

Gumdale (+86.4 per cent), Gordon Park (+83 per cent), Pullenvale (+82.3 per cent), Woolloongabba (+80.9 per cent) and Macleay Island (+78.1 per cent) were the star performers for houses during the boom.

24 Willis Street, Gordon Park, sold for $1.831m in March

Forest Hill in Ipswich, Brisbane’s cheapest house suburb with a median of $329,5000, recorded a 22 per cent lift in values in three years.

Up north, Machans Beach (+82.6) was the top performing suburb in the Cairns region, followed by Malanda and Palm Cove, while in the Townsville region, Queenton and Charters Towers (+109.7 per cent) came out on top, followed by Horseshoe Bay (+98.4 per cent), Home Hill (+95 per cent) and Mysterton (+81.1 per cent).

111 O'Shea Esplanade, Machans Beach, is listed for $1.8m+

The mining town of Dysart was the top spot for price growth in the Mackay-Isaac-Whitsunday region, rising 92.8 per cent to $200,000 after the downturn.

Toowoomba’s top spot was Kingsthorpe, up 64.8 per cent.

Propertyology founder and director Simon Pressley said there were several factors that could affect median values at a suburbs, from a lack of transactions to extraordinary sales.

But he said that from a LGA level, you could see regions like Scenic Rim and Gympie had experienced growth of around 70 per cent.

“And places like Noosa and the wider Sunshine Coast, they saw a heck of a lot of Melbourne money flowing in, not just from investors but people laying down roots,” he said.

“As soon as they could get out of lockdown, they were out of there.”

Mr Pressley said the Gold Coast saw a similar trend, but from the flow of people getting out of Sydney and wider NSW.

The Gold Coast saw an influx of new residents from NSW. Supplied.

He said that places like Yeppoon, the Whitsundays and Cairns also benefited from people fast-tracking their retirement plans and making the move while working from home.

“I am almost certain that the next drop of ABS migration data will show another record for Queensland,” he said.

Originally published as 164 per cent: How much values have increased in every Qld suburb since 2020