Lifestyle, not location, is Coast’s new property trump card

Southern property buyers are looking at the Sunshine Coast as a place for to live, work and play, with many snapping up homes without setting foot inside.

Lifestyle has trumped location with southern buyers looking at the Sunshine Coast as a place for to live, work and play, snapping up homes without setting foot inside. Picture: Lachie Millard

Lifestyle is the Sunshine Coast's newest property trump card with southern buyers snapping up homes without setting foot inside.

Real estate agents are reporting an influx of southern buyers escaping inner city life and buying Coast property without actually physically seeing it.

Despite border closures and mandatory quarantine measures, agents are selling property using video conferencing calls such as Zoom and Facetime.

At Ray White Maroochydore and Kawana officers in the past two months, 25 of the 77 properties sold have gone to buyers from outside the area.

In the agency's past nine sales, four were completed on video calls.

Principal James Goldsworthy said selling over electronic devices wasn't unheard of, but the level of buyer comfort was greater than before.

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"People are buying them but can't move in, maybe for months," Mr Goldsworthy said.

"I looked at what we sold last year and it's a sizeable jump.

"We just sold a two-bedroom unit to a first homebuyer who works in Brisbane city."

Mr Goldsworthy said he expected it could be a way of the future.

"I don't see it changing," he said.

"Buyers have more and more flexibility, so they may as well choose to live where they choose.

Real Estate Institute Queensland Sunshine Coast has also reported remote purchasing taking off for owner occupiers, not investors.

Sunshine Coast zone chairman Matt Diesel said inquiry rates and frustration at not being able to inspect the property with their own eyes had been high.

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Brendan Weatherill of Richardson and Wrench Noosa said he had experienced the influx first-hand.

"Sight unseen is normally rare, unless the inquiry is coming from an international investor," Mr Weatherill said.

"And generally it would be happening in the very high end of the market, but we're seeing it across all price points."

Mr Weatherill said he believed a large portion of buyers had been planning to purchase in the region for some time.

"They're looking for a lifestyle change and may have already enrolled their children into schools starting January," he said.

"The quarantine is giving them a sense of urgency."

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