Burleigh Heads transforms into Queensland’s Bondi Beach, unaffordable and set to continue
A $5bn wave of development and infrastructure has transformed the once-sleepy village into a home of celebrities – and it’s set to continue once borders reopen.
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BURLEIGH Heads has transformed into the Gold Coast’s own Bondi Beach, with leading real estate figures admitting it has become so exclusive that most buyers cannot afford to live there.
A $5bn wave of development and infrastructure has transformed the once-sleepy village into a home of celebrities – and it is set to continue once borders reopen.
Aussie tennis great and US Open champion Lleyton Hewitt and his wife Bec are the latest to snap up property, snaring the city’s “most instafamous house”, The Palms at 13 Deodar Drive, for $4.3m. It sold for $3.75m four months earlier.
Colliers Gold Coast residential director David Higgins said Burleigh was “Queensland’s own Bondi”.
“It’s the most searched-after suburb in Queensland for real estate inquiries followed by Palm Beach, Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach and that’s no surprise,” he said.
“The No. 1 thing people are looking for is location and Burleigh has that but not everyone can afford to live there anymore.
“People are saying they want to buy in Burleigh and Palm Beach but can’t because of how much the prices have moved in the past few years and that’s all coming off construction.
“It will be really important for our Premier to open the borders and get migration increasing so people can come up and get the Burleigh houses they’re looking for.”
The Palms is one of $20m worth of residential houses sold in the past month. Others included:
● 23 Kingfisher Crescent sold for $2.95m in late August, the highest price ever paid for a Burleigh Waters property;
● 44 Jabiru Ave raised the bar in mid-September when a Sydney couple paid $3.1m for the lakeside property – without even setting foot inside the house;
● 22 Eagle St became the first house in Burleigh to crack the $4m mark, with the dry block property selling for $4.025m;
Kingfisher Realty principal Conal Martin, whose agency has negotiated many of the record-breaking sales, said the suburb was racking up larger sales than anytime in its history, surpassing the city’s 1980s property boom.
“We are no longer dealing with a property market – this is a lifestyle market,” said Mr Martin.
“I compare it to cosmetic surgery and beauty therapies, which were initially considered luxury purchases but have evolved to become a staple of many people’s lives.
“In a similar way, buying a property in the heart of Burleigh has now become a lifestyle purchase and people are willing to pay a little more to make their Gold Coast dreams a reality.
“This is particularly so of southern buyers, who are desperate to swap lockdown life in Sydney and Melbourne for the freedoms of the Gold Coast.
“Whereas people used to have a five to 10-year plan to move north, we are now seeing them make that decision in five to 10 weeks.”
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