Gold Coast property market: Average unit price increases $500,000 in just six months, new report reveals

Fears that Gold Coast property is becoming more unaffordable are being realised, with new data revealing something jaw-dropping about the city’s real estate market.

The average price of units on the Gold Coast has risen by more than half a million dollars in just six months, heightening fears the city’s property is becoming more unaffordable.

The latest Apartment Market Essentials report, released on Thursday by property consulting firm Urbis, shows the average price during the March quarter was $1.73m, up from $1.13m in September 2023.

The figure, which was also an increase of more than $60,000 since December, is the highest on record in the decade since Urbis began recording data.

More than 91 per cent of sales recorded in the first quarter of the year, were above $1m, with the remaining 9 per cent ranging from $600,000 to $999,999.

Industry figures say the dramatic increase is the result of plummeting available stock and steady demand.

Paul Riga

Urbis director Paul Riga said the figures were the manifestation of both increasing sales and slow development.

“Price growth has been a key feature of the latest data along with a strong resurgence of investor activity,” he said.

“Interstate investors in the latest quarter have overtaken owner occupiers at the rate of 38 per cent versus 29 per cent of total sales. Local investors accounted for 20 per cent of sales and overseas buyers 13 per cent.

“This is a significant shift from the trend of recent years when we saw an all-time high of 65 per cent owner-occupier sales in 2020 during the peak of the pandemic.

“While the owner-occupier market remains strong, the latest quarter possibly signals a return to long-terms trends as prior to 2016 owner occupiers accounted for 30 per cent of sales.”

The bulk of recent sales have been in Surfers Paradise, Main Beach and Broadbeach. Picture by Richard Gosling

The report shows 240 units were sold in the first quarter of the year, slightly up on the 236 sold between September and December 2023.

Most – 229 of a total of 240 – were sold in Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach.

Overall, 1396 units remain on the market across the city, the lowest since the end of the Covid property book in 2022.

Nearly 60 per cent of units sold are two-bedroom, two-bathroom format, the type Urbis notes, is most popular with investors rather than owner-occupiers.

Around 30 per cent of sales were three-bedroom units.

The city is increasingly popular as a destination to live.

Developers continue to report high sales as more than 15,000 people move to the city annually while construction of new housing fails to keep pace, leaving property at a premium.

Sales have continued to be high in the April-June quarter, with more than $150m in sales alone were recorded in the first two weeks of May by developers Marquee Development Partners and Immerse Projects.

Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) Gold Coast boss Andrew Henderson said the “days of high-density development” with eight to ten units per floor were “long over”.

“The bulk of the new unit blocks are have the bigger floor plans and greater luxury features than those of previous years,” he said.

It comes just weeks after the latest Gold Coast Market Overview report for April by Colliers International found the average Gold Coast house price is now locked in above $1m, with the value remaining steady as pressure grows on the market

Leading real estate boss Andrew Bell, the Queensland spokesman for the Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA), said earlier in May the only way to relieve pressure on the market is to increase the supply.

“Every day this housing crisis is getting worse and we are almost 100 per cent dependant on private enterprise to step up. We simply have to make the process more attractive than it has been,” he said.

“During the pandemic there was an increase in divorces, downsizing and simply relocation. We are also seeing a lot of high wealth people, with the capacity to pay higher prices, moving to Queensland. In Surfer’s Paradise and Broadbeach 24 per cent of sales have been cash purchases.

“One significant way to affect supply positively would be build-to-rent developments that can never be sold and take the pressure off the rental section of the market.

“But developers need incentives that could include local councils making sure approvals are processed rapidly, infrastructure charges are slashed dramatically and council rates and fees are reduced for a three to five-year period.”