The Queensland coastal towns where property prices are booming

Queensland’s coastal underdogs are emerging as unexpected property market winners, with some towns seeing home prices surge almost 40 per cent in the past year.

Offering unspoiled beaches sans stingers, chic cafes free of crowds and homes by the beach without the multimillion-dollar price, these coastal towns are being compared to Byron Bay as it was a decade ago.

Roslyn Bay Boat Harbour, Yeppoon.Credit: Tourism and Events Queensland

In Bargara, unit prices soared 38.1 per cent to a median of $670,000 in the year to June on Domain data. Its median house price climbed 19.4 per cent to $770,000.

In Yeppoon, unit medians climbed 27.5 per cent to $475,000 in the same period. The median house price rose a more modest 6.8 per cent to $630,000.

The median house price in Agnes Water also recorded a modest 8.7 per cent increase to $815,000 in the past year but experienced a colossal 118.8 per cent jump in the five years to June.

Property punters say cheaper property prices and a collective yearning to escape the rat race to live by the beach is driving southern buyers to seaside towns just a few hours north of Brisbane. And it’s not just retirees making the move, driven by buyers migrating north from the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

Jason and Rachel Barrett with their children in Bargara.

Jason and Rachel Barrett moved from the Gold Coast to Bargara with their two young boys Brody and Kyle a couple of years ago for a better quality of life without the eye-watering property prices.

The couple bought a four-bedroom house with a pool for just over $1 million – a property that the Barretts said would have cost almost $1.5 million on the Gold Coast.

Jason, who works in civil construction, described their Gold Coast life as the epitome of the rat race, leaving for work in the dark at 5am and not returning home until 5pm.

“I’d spend at least three hours commuting a day and that’s without a crash on the highway. I started adding it up, and I was wasting 24 hours a week sitting in traffic. That’s not living.”

“Moving here [Bargara] was about slowing down and getting back into a community environment and finding a place where the kids can ride their bikes.

“The day we moved in a neighbour from across the road came over with a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates.”

McGrath Wide Bay’s Mark Gelsomino said Bargara had picked up colossal growth since COVID began.

“That’s when we were discovered … buyers are chasing that lifestyle, and the climate is bringing them too. You can swim all year around here and there’s a lovely village feel,” Gelsomino said.

He said stock levels remained tight and quality homes by the beach are often snapped up in a couple of weeks.

“Our No. 1 buyers are from the Sunshine Coast, and the Gold Coast is No. 2. We’re getting couples, with children under 10, who can work from home but we’re also getting 30-to-40-year-old tradies,” he said.

Gelsomino said buyers could still purchase a good home near the beach for less than $1 million, which is now difficult in Brisbane.

Ray White Yeppoon’s Debbie Lodwick said it was a similar story further north in Yeppoon.

“Prices here have escalated so much … our median in most areas is about $650,000 now. But only a few years ago it was $430,000,” Lodwick said.

She said families from down south were driving the demand, spurred by a better lifestyle, lower crime rates and lower prices.

“We’ve got that country atmosphere by the beach that Byron Bay used to have about 10 to 15 years ago. But you still have a major regional city up the road, which is Rockhampton.”

RMW Yeppoon’s Rory Wex said most of his buyers came from the Gold Coast, with that southern cohort seeing Yeppoon as the perfect halfway point.

“Past here you get stingers but being right on the Tropic of Capricorn I think we’re perfectly positioned. You can swim year-round here,” Wex said.

“It’s also not as regional as it used to be, and we’ve got Rockhampton close by, which is a major hub with flights to Brisbane every day.”

Wex said other drawcards included the overall cheaper cost of living, good private schools that were also cheaper and very little to no paid parking.

Ray White Agnes Water’s Damien Gomersall said prices had doubled over the past four years alone.

“We’re the last surf beach that there is … and two-thirds of our buyers are from the Sunshine Coast. They’re fed up with the high prices there, and here they get the lifestyle they once had,” Gomersall said. “It has the same vibe that Noosa had 30 years ago.”

He said families are leading the charge with a blend of remote workers, mine workers and business owners increasingly moving north.