Gold Coast suburbs where median house prices are soaring

House values have surged by more than 10 per cent in just three months in 12 Gold Coast suburbs. FULL LIST – SEE THE LATEST PRICES IN YOUR SUBURB >>>

Denice Shepherd is selling her house at Mermaid Waters, which is one of the top suburbs for price growth. Photo: Glenn Hampson

House values have surged by more than 10 per cent in just three months in 12 Gold Coast suburbs, pricing out locals amid heated demand from interstate buyers.

Mermaid Beach was the city’s top performer — and third in QLD — recording 12.9 per cent growth between January and March to hit an eye-watering median house price of $1.56m, CoreLogic data for the March quarter shows.

Offers of more than $2.5m are sought for this pavilion-style house at 26 Alfred Street, Mermaid Beach. It’s marketed for sale by Eoghan Murphy of Kollosche.

Annual growth reached 15.7 per cent in the iconic suburb, which is home to some of the Coast’s most expensive oceanfront properties along Hedges Avenue, known as Millionaires’ Row.

The surrounding suburbs of Burleigh Waters and Mermaid Waters also boomed off the back of a post-COVID lifestyle shift north by people from the southern states. Quarterly house values in those suburbs rose 12.6 and 12.3 per cent respectively; and 17.1 and 14.5 per cent over 12 months.

Rounding out the quarter’s top dozen were: Miami, Currumbin Waters, Currumbin Valley, Elanora, Palm Beach, Jacobs Well, Tugun, Broadbeach Waters and Mudgeeraba.

CoreLogic head of research Eliza Owen said interstate migration and the normalisation of remote working combined with a desire to escape high-density living had boosted the local market.

This renovated home at 7 Rawlinna Drive, Mermaid Waters, is marketed by Daniel Donovan and Conner Malan of Ray White Mermaid Beach and goes under the hammer this month.

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“These more laidback lifestyle markets have become more appealing,” Ms Owen said.

“The Gold Coast market has consistently outperformed Brisbane for quite some time.

“The fact this market is still a commutable distance to Brisbane (is driving growth), and perhaps even prompted a shift from parts of Brisbane through COVID.

“(The Gold Coast) offers the best of both worlds in terms of lifestyle and access to amenities.”

Looking ahead, Ms Owen said she expected demand to remain strong while interest rates were at historical lows.

Meanwhile, steep house prices in the most popular suburbs have led first-home buyer activity to stall since January, according to Herron Todd White’s latest housing report.

Rare: A three-bedroom beach house in the millionaire’s enclave of Jefferson Lane, Palm Beach is for sale via Jordan Williams of JW Prestige Agents.

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“Demand for residential property remains very strong across the central suburbs of the Gold Coast. Buyers are currently finding it difficult to enter into the market with what appears to be record-low stock levelst,” Herron Todd White director Stuart Greensill said.

“The recent influx of New South Wales and Victorian buyers has put further upward pressure on property prices and subsequently made it a greater challenge for local first-home buyers to get their foot in the door.”

Source: CoreLogic

Source: CoreLogic

Ray White Mermaid Beach agent Conner Malan said prices in the area were holding strong, but increased seller confidence had begun to trickle through with more properties now starting to hit the market.

“A lot of people were being offered big money but were cautious of being caught with nowhere else to go because prices have moved so far,” Mr Malan said.

6 Fig Street Elanora will be auctioned this week and was marketed by Billy Jaz, of McGrath Palm Beach.

“Mermaid Waters had steady growth over the last decade but in the past six months it’s really hit the map and, like what has happened in Broadbeach Waters already, prices have gone through the roof and are rapidly catching up to the beach suburbs.”

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Mermaid Water’s house price record was smashed three times this year, landing at $3.431m with the sale of a multi-level waterfront home at 7 Crestmore Avenue in April.

McGrath Palm Beach agent Billy Jaz said listings in the southern suburbs had spiked since Easter after stalling over the holiday period, which coincided with Brisbane’s lockdown, the end of JobKeeper and bad weather.

CoreLogic’s head of commercial research Eliza Owen.

Mr Jaz said buyers were turning to Elanora, and over the border to the Tweed Shire, as median prices in oceanfront Palm Beach and Currumbin topped $1m.

“Over the years I’ve always seen this flow of buyers who are trying to buy in Palm Beach get outpriced and as a result go into Elanora, and I’m seeing that trend strong now … but then I’m also noticing buyers getting outpriced in Elanora and going to Banora, Terranora and the Tweed,” he said.

Semi-rural Currumbin Valley held its mantle as the region’s strongest performer over 12 months – up a whopping 23.6 per cent, followed by Lower Beechmont (23.4), Currumbin (22.2), and Bundall (21.4).

Unit prices also posted impressive growth, with Mermaid Beach again leading the charge, up 9.8 per cent to $558,591.