Tough times bite property market

WHILE people in the construction industry complain about the two-speed economy, the Gympie real estate market appears to be struggling also.

The good days, pictured here, have gone for now, according to latest real estate figures.

WHILE people in the construction industry complain about the two-speed economy, the Gympie real estate market appears to be struggling also.

Exceptions to the bad news appeared in big capital gain figures for Tin Can Bay and Curra.

Master Builders Australia reported this week that building work had risen modestly overall in the June quarter, but with a growing divide between home building and mining-related engineering construction.

And Real Estate Institute of Queensland figures, also made public this week, show Gympie property prices struggled upwards during the quarter, but were still substantially below comparable prices a year ago.

A Gympie Region property valued at $375,000 in June, was 8.7% more expensive than in March, but over the year was 1.8% down on last June.

A $275,000 property in the region is up on the quarterly comparison but 5.2% less over the year, compared with a one-year-ago figure of $290,000.

Within the region, Tin Can Bay was the major capital gain bright spot, with a 15.6% increase year on year, with a property at $358,500 now showing a big increase on last year’s comparison figure of $310,000.

At Southside a $310,000 property was worth $337,500 last year, a drop of 8.1%.

In Gympie city itself, a $245,000 property was worth $272,000 a year ago, a fall of 9.9%.

Nearby regions also showed the market suffering.

To the south, Cooroy recorded a 0.7% drop on a property valued now at $425,000.

Pomona values rose 1.2% from last year’s $525,000.

At Fraser Coast overall a house worth $295,000 now dropped 4% from $307,400 last year and a $370,000 property now fell 2.6% from $380,000 last year.

At Glenwood, just north of Gympie, a house now valued at $215,000 would have been worth $226,500 last year, a drop of 5.1%.

Fraser Coast’s main bright spot in the market was Tinana, where prices rose 15.2%.

Master Builders Australia chief economist Peter Jones said that latest building figures available showed "parts of the industry struggling".

This confirmed evidence from the organisation’s latest survey showing “a dramatic turnaround in builder sentiment” as commercial and residential building-related stimulus spending programs come to an end.

The business environment has become much tougher in recent times, not helped by uncertainty regarding the world economy and share market volatility.

“Today’s figures show that work in the pipeline for the non-residential sector continues to fall, with builders also facing a downturn in forward indicators such as sales and inquiries, as evidenced by our surveys.”

He said the residential building market had earlier promised much, but was now struggling to regain lost momentum triggered by last year’s interest rate rises and the ongoing credit squeeze that continues to suppress the upturn.

“In contrast to the positive outlook for engineering construction, the residential building upswing faces ongoing challenges and the non-residential building sector is desperate for a pick-up in private sector demand to replace ebbing stimulus-related work.”

Originally published as Tough times bite property market