Figures reveal growth in buyer interest in Toowoomba

DEMAND for property in the Toowoomba region is up, with new figures revealing more potential buyers are searching for property in the area.

ON THE UP: Properties like 11 Burns Street, East Toowoomba are piquing the interest of buyers in the Garden City. . Picture: Contributed

DEMAND for property in the Toowoomba region is up, with new figures revealing more potential buyers are searching for property in the area.

The latest realestate.com.au Property Outlook revealed views on its listings in Toowoomba had increased by 4.8 per cent in the past quarter compared with the same time last year.

REA Group chief economist Nerida Conisbee said many regional areas had experienced a lack of interest in their property markets and price drops in recent years, but that had now started to turn around.

She said the local economy had improved in Toowoomba and the lift in demand would also have been driven in part by rising employment in the city.

She said what could appear to be minor jobs growth, could have a major impact on the property market of somewhere like Toowoomba.

"If there are 50 new jobs created in an area it often means 100 people need to be housed in an area,'' she said.

Ms Conisbee said regional Queensland was on the way up generally.

The report found there were five major regional towns or centres where demand had increased by 30 per cent or more compared with the same time last year.

Gladstone had the biggest surge in demand of 39.1 per cent, followed by the Fraser Coast, 33.8 per cent, Gympie 32.2 per cent, Mackay 31.1 per cent, and then Bundaberg 30 per cent.

Ms Conisbee said while things where slowing down in the southern powerhouse markets of Sydney and Melbourne, other areas, particularly regional areas were starting to surge.

The data was collated using information gathered from more than 80 million searches in the buy section of realestate.com.au in the past quarter and analysed all levels of demand, buying and renting.

Ms Conisbee predicts values would continue to moderate in Melbourne and Sydney in the next six months, but other markets would hold up well.

"Regional Queensland is seeing a pick-up in demand everywhere except the Gold Coast, which appears to be experiencing a post Commonwealth Games hangover," Ms Conisbee said.

For the latest property news, make sure you grab the Real Estate Guide in Saturday's edition of The Chronicle.

Originally published as Figures reveal growth in buyer interest in Toowoomba