Cairns real estate: Land sales soar at Palms, Pinecrest and Freshwater

Records are toppling as a land sales boom picks up speed with buyers snapping up blocks quicker than developers can subdivide them.

RECORDS are toppling as a land sales boom picks up speed with buyers snapping up blocks quicker than developers can subdivide them.

The past month has been the biggest Property Shop sales and marketing director Ben Johnston can remember in his 25 years in the industry.

The long-awaited first sales for The Palms has been a perfect example of how land-hungry the economy has become.

A quickfire pre-registered buyer period resulted in all but 14 of the first 40 lots being spoken for in just two days.

The new housing estate at Smithfield Village. PICTURE: BRENDAN RADKE

Expressions of interest are signed, deposits paid and the bulldozers have not even started work on transforming the former Kewarra Beach golf course.

Another eight blocks from the second release of land now also have names on them despite the Enclave Two section not even being officially for sale yet.

“I’ve never seen anything like it in 25 years,” Mr Johnston said.

Running down the list of buyers shows a healthy combination of locals and southern buyers, mostly from Sydney and Melbourne with the odd Brisbane escapee in the mix.

Look over at Smithfield Village and the Property Shop has shifted 28 blocks in the past month.

“And it’s going to do over that this month,” Mr Johnston said.

Only six of the 48 first Rocky Creek lots at the new Pinecrest subdivision in Mount Peter are now unspoken for, and Freshwater Pocket’s first stage only has three lots unsold from its 33-block first release.

A land release at Freshwater Pocket, comprising 33 lots on Brinsmead Road was announced in June. Picture: supplied.

It is now a case of how quickly new land can be brought online.

Mr Johnston said developers were struggling to get new land online quick enough to meet the voracious market, and that a shift in interstate border policy could exacerbate the issue.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen when the borders reopen,” he said.

“We have zero vacancy.

“If we had 1000 families move to Cairns right now from Victoria or Sydney, where would they all live?

“There’s basically not a title block of land in Cairns that’s vacant.

The first stage of the much-anticipated Pinecrest residential subdivision at Mt Peter was released on July 24, with 48 large lots priced from $210,000 in the Rocky Creek precinct. The project is being marketed by Ben Johnston of the Property Shop. Picture: supplied.

“Some of the bigger builders would usually be sitting on 80-100 houses at any one time, but I believe they have nothing now.”

He only expected demand to grow.

“The first stage (of a subdivision) is always the hardest to sell,” he said.

“The Palms is just a paddock at the moment, the same as Freshwater Pocket.

“The fact that we’ve had such an uptake for these two masterplanned communities that don’t even have their first stages up tells me there’s only going to be more demand once we’ve got a finished product we can show people.”

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Originally published as Cairns real estate: Land sales soar at Palms, Pinecrest and Freshwater