Gold Coast property market: 2000 new units to be completed in 2024 with no relief in sight

More than 2000 new units are set to be completed in the next year but a new report warns it will do nothing to ease the strain on the Gold Coast property market. FIND OUT WHY

More than 2000 new units are set to be completed in the next year but a new report warns it will do nothing to ease the strain on the Gold Coast property market.

A new report by Colliers International reveals much of the stock due for completion was already sold as far back as 2021, meaning there is nothing waiting in the wings for eager buyers.

Colliers residential director David Higgins said the market faced several years of challenges to catch up with demand.

“The settlements this year are effectively the flow-on effect of a massive increase in buyer activity in 2021, but since then we have seen significant challenges for the high-rise sector that continues to keep supply well behind the demand curve,” he said.

Colliers Director David Higgins. Picture Glenn Hampson

“Buyers continue to flood the market competing for less available stock than this time last year.

“We’re now seeing more apartments selling above $1m than ever before and it’s evident that this is part of a changing dynamic for the Gold Coast market.

“Over the last two years, 67 per cent of sales were priced at $1m and over, but during the second quarter of this year 89 per cent of sales were $1m and over.”

The report notes around 5650 units are under construction but just 31 per cent are expected to be completed in the current year, the number increasing to 36 per cent in 2025.

It is the latest report to delve into the pressure facing the Gold Coast property market in the face of record migration, with around 15,000 people moving to the city annually.

Development is not keeping up and tens of thousands of units have been greenlit but never built.

Construction remains at high levels. Picture: Glenn Campbell

The high migration rate, combined with a lack of available land or new units has seen property prices spike.

A report released by Ray White last month showed house prices had increased nine per cent in the past year, above the national average of 8.5 per cent. The media price is $1.17m, second only to Sydney’s median of $1.7m.

Ray White chief economist Nerida Conisbee said at the time that the market had changed dramatically since the pandemic.

“It was a pretty affordable market pre-pandemic but now it is the second most expensive after Sydney and increasing at a rapid rate,” she said.

“That momentum that has been built on the Gold Coast does look like it will continue.

“Luxury continues to be the top performer, with the luxury housing market significantly outperforming the market as a whole.”

There are thousands of new units coming on the market – but most have already sold.

However, the Colliers report also warns the supply of ultra luxury apartments is slowing with a “30 per cent supply gap” now being recorded.

Mr Higgins said pressure would continue to grow on the luxury market as baby boomers retired.

“Over the next decade, the stage is set for what we believe will be a transformative shift in luxury real estate on the Gold Coast with the critical force behind this being led by the baby boomer demographic,” he said.

“These buyers, many of them downsizing, are investing their capital in luxury apartments and houses and frequently paying cash upfront, without the need to secure finance to complete.

“Ultimately, this will continue to be driven by an estimated $272bn inheritance windfall over the next decade as wealth begins to be transferred to the next generation.”

Originally published as Gold Coast property market: 2000 new units to be completed in 2024 with no relief in sight