Real estate guru Andrew Bell on Gold Coast property market home and house prices
Real estate guru Andrew Bell says the Gold Coast’s property market is in the midst of a refresh and he has interesting insight into demand for the tourism capital. THE INTERVIEW
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Real estate guru Andrew Bell says the Gold Coast’s property market is in the midst of a refresh – but the appetite for our city remains insatiable.
The big boom might be over … but don’t look for a bust on the horizon.
Because when it comes to this city’s property market, it seems the appetite is insatiable.
And no one knows this better than Mr Bell.
After not just buying and selling but surviving and thriving through eight real estate cycles, Mr Bell, chair of the Ray White Surfers Paradise Group, said while the Coast’s boom was off the boil, there was still growth in the market.
“We’ve been sprinting the last few years, now we’ve stopped to catch our breath but we’re still moving forward. We’ve dropped our pace right now, but we’ll be picking it up again,” he said.
“The underlying factors that have driven this growth are still there, there are still far more buyers than sellers, and the great migration of wealth to the Gold Coast means this won’t change for a long time.”
Indeed, the city is welcoming up to 15,000 new residents annually while a shortage of land has placed further pressure on prices, meaning that Gold Coast property prices have outpaced every Australian capital city over the past five years.
CoreLogic head of research Eliza Owen said the Coast’s 80.7 per cent growth since 2020 was even ahead of the 71.2 per cent rise in Brisbane, while Ray White chief economist Nerida Conisbee said the Gold Coast now boasts the second most expensive median price in Australia, only behind Sydney.
Meanwhile, Surfers Paradise led the nation for cash purchases in 2022 and the suburb registered a massive $1.4 billion in sales last year.
THE EVENT MEGA AUCTION: ANDREW BELL’S TOP 10
Most Coast buyers would be lucky to get any change from a million dollars these days, with our median property value hovering above that seven-figure mark.
However, in the lead-up to Ray White Surfers Paradise’s The Event, Australia’s largest auction property showcase now in its 31st year and with 112 properties on the block, Mr Bell said the conditions were much better for buyers than previous years.
“There are still more buyers than sellers, but the intensity of the competition has changed, we couldn’t keep going at that breakneck speed forever” he said.
“There is a little more supply to choose from as well, and while interest rates have risen and cooled conditions slightly, they are still relatively low considering. People know their borrowing capacity and the finance is there so it’s pretty stable conditions for both buyers and sellers.
“Some markets, like Melbourne, are really dropping but we’re holding up because the interest in this city continues to grow. The understanding of us being the lifestyle capital has really taken hold.
“I’ve now done over 20,000 auctions over 40 years and every year is different, especially in this city.”
So rather than an end to the boom or the beginning of a bust, consider this something of a refresh for the market.
In fact, that’s a theme for Mr Bell in 2025.
After more than three decades hosting the Ray White Surfers Paradise Muscular Dystrophy Charity Ball, he said he was looking to restructure that event as the Coast’s social calendar was “oversubscribed” with balls.
Instead, he said he would be launching a new concept later this year and was confident the Coast would embrace it.
“We started the charity ball 30-odd years ago and it’s always been a wonderful event, people were always so excited about the ball every year,” he said.
“But, like anything that’s a success, others get in on it. Last year alone there were 15 charity balls in the city. That’s just too many and it becomes a chore, especially for sponsors because it’s always the same people getting tapped on the shoulder.
“The cost of hosting the event has risen so much as well, meaning there’s less to give to the charity.
“That’s why we want to rethink the concept so that we can give back as much as possible. Besides, we love being innovators.”
From The Event auction to the Muscular Dystrophy Charity Ball to the Gold Coast itself, Mr Bell said the greatest tradition of this young city was its ability to reinvent itself.
He said that was especially apparent in Surfers Paradise, although the suburb still suffered from those who underestimated the impact of its recent revitalisation, and yet over-estimated its past ‘glory days’.
“When I came to the Gold Coast in 1989, Surfers Paradise was full of empty building sites and old run-down buildings. People talk about those glory days, but it was actually a very sad state of affairs,” he said.
“Now, you look at the money invested in Surfers Paradise, it’s in the top five suburbs of Australia for dollar value of residential sales. We’re building new and better developments all the time and the infrastructure and standard of retail offered is far more superior than the past.
“As for commercial real estate, vacancies are now the lowest they have been in 30 years. These are the glory days.
“People are coming here in greater numbers than ever before and voting not just with their feet but their money. The Gold Coast isn’t perfect, but tell me where is better? Nowhere.
“The only risk is that as we get bigger and bigger, we suffocate under more rules and regulations. I love that the Gold Coast has always been very entrepreneurial, that should be encouraged.
“I love the characters of the world like Bruce Mathieson and Harry Triguboff, that’s why we have them speak at our sportsman’s lunches, we don’t need more cookie cutter personalities but people who take risks. They are the ones who have helped build this city.”
However, Mr Bell said it was time to take a risk when it came to the future of the city, with the lack of affordable housing strangling our growth.
He said he had been in talks with the government about making Southport the centre for affordable housing to ensure essential employees could afford to live in this city.
“This is not social housing, although there is a need for that as well, but I’m talking about building housing that’s affordable for teachers, nurses, technicians and other critical industries where employees can no longer afford to live near their place of work,” he said.
“As our health and education sectors grow, we need to be able to not just attract key people but ensure we can house them.
“Southport is the perfect location for that because it’s so central, it has great transportation and infrastructure links and the suburb itself would welcome further renewal.
“The issue is that we need the government to take the lead in creating build-to-rent developments, that scheme has never really been pursued in Australia but our cities are screaming out for it.
“Southport has an availability of sites, some which at state level are under-utilised, and we would have to change some building codes to accommodate this scheme, because you’re not building for the end user, but I’m keen to take off any brakes to make this become a reality
“The government will need to show some leadership in this area to give commercial interests more confidence and come to the table. Ultimately it should be a marriage between local, state and commercial interests.
“I have spoken to the department under the previous state government and the current department, both have been on board, but we really need to push this as a city. I believe 2025 is the year we can get this started.”
So forget boom and bust, it’s time to hit refresh.
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